The Detroit Free Press has been watching Bloomberg TV (who has the time?). And who should they see but Red Ink Rick Wagoner, the GM CEO whose testimony in front of the Senate gives new meaning to the words “clutch player.” Apparently, late in the game, Mr. Wagoner is ready to float away to Aruba on his golden parachute and take one for the team. Maybe. But he sure as Hell wouldn’t recommend it. [Quick aside. Never mind Rick Wagoner’s Gulfstream flight to Washington. Anyone want to bet that his compensation package includes free flights on the company’s planes AFTER his retirement? And what about golden Blue Oval Boy Alan Mulally’s family’s free jet travel? And Bill Ford’s access to the company planes? Where do you think HE goes with the jet and what exactly does HE do to keep Ford’s head above water?] “I’ll always do what’s right for the company,” Wagoner told Bloomies, boldly ignoring the prima facie case against the validity of any such assertion. “But even more critical during a difficult time period is having the best possible management team. We have a good team at GM. That’s not what I would recommend.” He wouldn’t recommend having a good team at GM? Ipso bloody facto.
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I happened to hear Phil LeBeau’s interview with RW on CNBC yesterday. Phil asked Rick if he thought that the tone of the hearings was some sort of payback for GM’s arrogance over the years. Rick’s reply: “Well, Phil, arrogance is not a word that I would use to describe GM or our leadership team.” You can’t make this stuff up, folks!
I am positive that if you could concoct a situation in which it looked like Rick had saved the company, he would be willing to bail in a heartbeat. He just doesn’t want his place in history to be the guy who killed GM. If you gave him the chance to escape that anathema he’d do his best Flash impersonation.
I wonder if he’s ever asked himself “is this good for the company?” when he makes stupid decisions that will eventually result in the loss of jobs for hundreds of thousands of employees. All of these idiot executives should have the Office Space DVD on repeat, because they all remind me of Lumberg. “thumbs up their asses” or “no talent ass-clowns”, as Michael Bolton would say.
I think Rick will hang as long as there even is a whiff of either getting some coin from Uncle Sam now, or if the company can survive to Obama’s inauguration and the surely immediate session of Congress that will follow, and get the coin then.
Once the options for more coin have been exhausted, Rick will punch out. Its not fun cleaning up a mess for damn near free, its only fun making one and getting millions for it. Plus, Rick I am sure wants to have set in legal stone his stream of checks ’till death, before the death of GM itself.
I was about to pop the cork of the champagne reading the first half of the title.
I am surprised that the Board of Directors has backed Wagoner to this point. Don’t they know that they will all spend years defending d&o law suits if they don’t act now. Can’t they just throw Wagoner to the wolves, it’s not like he would hesistate.
“arrogance is not a word that I would use to describe GM or our leadership team”
OK, how about:
Incompetent
Useless
Inept
Bungling
Ineffectual
Hopeless
Weak
Feeble
Unimpressive
Unsuccessful
Inadequate
Inefficient…..so many words
Hey at least Rick lives in Detroit.
Those other guys spend all their time commuting to Seattle, Atlanta, and Miami.
If this was sex, that was premature ejaculation.
I don’t have any problem with Big Al holding on to his compensations.
He didn’t create the mess, and left an excellent position with a more stable company to try to fix Ford.
He already sacrificed a stable position.
Rick is indefensible. But we know that.
Bunter1 :
Just to be clear here…
Alan Mulally was paid $25m in HIS FIRST YEAR at Ford. That’s just obscene. Period.
First of all, I own the “Aruba Baby” moniker, I think I trademarked it about two years ago. This is the probable scenario: Ricky will resign – with pension intact – when it looks like he is doing it for the “Best long term interests of the Company he has devoted his lifetime to…” in order to get that first $25b through Congress. Nothing like making the ultimate sacrifice for the Company he loves, see, even I, hardhearted schmoe I am, have tears welling up at this point, even though the sacrifice entails long evenings on a beach with a Cohiba and a straight scotch.
Economic commentator (and frequent Harper’s contributor) Eric Janzen over at Itulip.com had such a great article mentioning the GM debacle that I just had to put up a link. Well worth a read for the snarky humor alone
“When an indebted Consumer is facing unemployment, the last thing on his or her mind is committing a big chunk of the next four to six years’ household cash flow to a poorly engineered American gas hog. The gas hog manufacturer’s financing arm, not thrilled about lending money to the indebted, soon to be unemployed Consumer, has raised lending standards so high that fewer than half as many applicants can make the hurdle as could this month last year.
In retrospect shorting GM was like shooting fish in a barrel.”
http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthread.php?p=60223#post60223
Just to be clear here…
Alan Mulally was paid $25m in HIS FIRST YEAR at Ford. That’s just obscene. Period.
RF – I agree that this amount is obscene, but Mulally can’t be faulted for it. That was his price for leaving Boeing and going to Ford. The Ford BOD is responsible. Of course, if this was not the offer, would Mulally have come? Or would they have ended up with an RW clone? I think Mulally is doing his job. As long as there is a free market, exec salaries are going to be large. Don’t tell me that Toyota execs take smaller salaries out of the goodness of their hearts and dedication to the company.
1996MEdition – you forgot an adjective:
Feckless.
I think it to be the perfect descriptor for Wagoner’s leadership. Miriam-Webster online defines it as synonym to weak, ineffective, worthless, irresponsible.