Back when TTAC was a voice in the wilderness on GM’s C11, I asked Bob Lutz if his pension was bankruptcy-proof. Maximum Bob scoffed and joked that he’d check with his accountant. Well, I guess he didn’t; the Car Czar recently revealed that hard times had forced him to sell one of his personal jets. After losing his shirt on GM stock options. The fact that MB’s working for New GM also indicates that he forgot to get while the getting was good. He should have had a word with his boss, Rick Wagoner. The ex-GM CEO, the man who wiped billions from the company’s worth and faceplanted the American automaker, made sure his financial future didn’t depend on anything as trivial as success.
Sure, Wagoner was due to collect $22.1 million for time served. But even though his contract was with Old GM, Red Ink Rick’s riches were [somehow] assigned to New GM. Which means Wagoner’s getting an $8.2 million dollar thank you. Oh and a $74,030 annual pension. Oh and a chance to cash-in his $2.57 million life insurance policy. And unspecified perks (cars for life, travel, etc.). Bodyguards? The Detroit News tells us “General Motors Co. officials declined comment.”
Are you sure that picture is of Wagoner? After reading the article, I expected to see a guy who wears an earring and an eyepatch, and has a parrot perched on his shoulder.
Fare thee well, Dick. Fare thee well.
Bodyguards? Is America so ticked off Rick needs bodyguards? Guess we’re paying for them too.
$8.2M? That $33B is going fast!
Rick needs to open his own casino. He can call it, “Heads, I win. Tails, you lose.” He can get her started with some stimulus money. I’m sure the rubes will pack the place.
TTAC wasn’t a voice in the wilderness with GM ch 11. GM’s shitty bond rating indicates the credit agencies thought they had a huge chance of falling apart. So did many analysts.
At any rate, a more plausible scenario about Mr. Lutz coming back is that he left before he was ousted. Then he had a chance to come back after all the bankruptcy hassle was done to help run shit. Granted all we can really do is speculate but it seems more likely Lutz just read some tea leaves or something. He got to game the system and keep his job and escape the ire of being thrown out by King Obama et al. He’s probably invested in tons of different companies all taking it in the shitter so him having to sell a jet (which can’t possibly be cheap to keep or run) doesn’t mean he’s bellying up to a soup kitchen.
And Ricky didn’t even give the Taxpayers a kiss before he did us.
In hindsight I think Roger Smith will come off better than Wagoner. This man turned GM into a pile of excrement!
akear:
Your being too hard on Ricky. He started with a turd and polished it.
What do you get when you polish a turd?
A smaller turd
Well, of course it is some proverbial “free market” that ensures the guy obtains that amount of wealth.
“The new law of evolution in corporate America seems to be survival of the unfittest.” – Gordon Gekko
Farce!
I’m probably the only one here that would say he deserves it!
Like the old divorce-related joke… “It’s cheaper to keep her!”
Rock on Rick! You deserve every penny!
VerbalKint :
“And Ricky didn’t even give the Taxpayers a kiss before he did us.”
Rick “did” the taxpayers? Really? Rick was F’d over by the Rattner clan buddy!
Rick needs to open his own casino. He can call it, “Heads, I win. Tails, you lose.” He can get her started with some stimulus money. I’m sure the rubes will pack the place.
Hell yeah, and he could open it in the RenCen when GM’s forced to sell it because they can no longer afford the utilities.
I won’t go as far as Autojunkie and say he deserves it, but I’d rather they pay him to leave than pay him to stay, I guess. The pension and life insurance policy is a rather big load of crap.
Fuck up.
Cash in.
DC Lobbyist next?
My Hero.
I wonder what Nardelli is doing now. He is probably driving around in a golf cart all day complaining about geese dropping on the coarse.
Well, the class envy has started….
His payoff could be compared to Mr. Robert Nardelli’s, who was given $210 million upon leaving Home Depot after only 6 years, although he was considered ‘successful’ there.
$8.2 million for Rick amounts to about 2-3 hours’ worth of losses for the old GM. No big deal.
“We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.”
Aesop 620-560 BC
This really upsets me. There are a lot of people who’ve dedicated their lives to a company and did their best job to help it grow, but b/c of poor leadership and management – they were let go and given very little compensation for their efforts. Whereas Rabid Rick and his cronies screwed this company, now sucks on the Federal tit and he gets even more send off money while his carbon copy plots the exact same course.
obbop :
July 15th, 2009 at 1:00 am
Well, of course it is some proverbial “free market” that ensures the guy obtains that amount of wealth.
The problem isn’t a free market, but rather that his pension wasn’t tossed out with the others in a chapter 7 without government involvement or that it wasn’t thrown into the bad GM portfolio to die. I wonder who and why it was decided that his payout should be kept with new GM?
The problem isn’t a free market, but rather that his pension wasn’t tossed out with the others in a chapter 7 without government involvement or that it wasn’t thrown into the bad GM portfolio to die. I wonder who and why it was decided that his payout should be kept with new GM?
That’s an easy answer! The same one who decided that Mr. Wagoner would have to be the sacrificial lamb of the auto industry.
He should be in a cell with Bernie
>>He should be in a cell with Bernie<<
That wouldn’t be fair – to Bernie!
To quote Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (he was referring to incumbent opponent Joe Kernan):
“We weren’t led by bad people, but we were badly led”
I think the same applies to “The Rick”.
Roger Smith WAS bad people.
This really ticks me off, his actions help run the company into the ground and he walks away with 8.2 million. Only in America…..
Lets review,
Bernie lies, cheats and steals, loses over $65 Billion in investor wealth and gets 150 years in prison.
Rick dithers, bumbles, and F’s up, loses over $85 Billion in investor wealth and gets a $8.2 million pension.
So the lesson here is if you are an incompetent idiot the world is your oyster.
It was John Smale and Ron Zarella that fiddled while GM’s downward path gained so much speed. Mr. Wagoner did a great deal to fix prior mistakes, but the mis-marketing inertia and corporate-cultural dysfunctionality of the former world’s largest corporation was more than he could immediately reverse. Business historians, I think, will treat him well, but his predecessors badly.
The real lesson here is that US CEOs are grossly overpaid. Period
The new Ubermensh, CEOs of America.
Shoot them on sight, improve the economy.