`Dumbest People' Industry Image May Cost GM CEO Wagoner Job (Update1)

[Joanne98]

Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Rick Wagoner's 31-year career may fall victim to the mistakes of the industry and his own, even if General Motors Corp. survives.

The GM chief executive officer unleashed scrutiny of his record after asking for a government bailout to keep the Detroit automaker in business. Now, his departure may be a necessary condition of any federal rescue, business leaders and lawmakers say.

``Management needs to be replaced,'' said Robert Crandall, former chairman and CEO of American Airlines parent AMR Corp. ``The fact is that the management as a whole has had lots of opportunities to fix this. They haven't.''

Wagoner has run the world's largest automaker for the past eight years, presiding over $73 billion in losses beginning in 2005. He already endured a fight with dissident shareholders and several failed turnarounds and may argue he knows the company better than most who could take his job.

The 55-year-old executive joined GM in 1977, as U.S. automakers were fending off Japanese competitors who recognized the need a decade earlier to build fuel-efficient vehicles. While U.S. auto sales broke records during Wagoner's years as CEO, the three major producers -- Ford Motor Co., Chrysler LLC and GM -- battled against high labor costs from pension and retiree health care obligations.

Removing CEOs

``There's the feeling that next to financial services, automotive execs are the dumbest people in the world,'' said Thomas Stallkamp, a former Chrysler president who worked at the car company when it received emergency government loans in 1980. ``There are probably some symbolic moves that somebody's going to ask for.''

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=ap8pS2oslvn0&refer=home

[Selatius]

1. Sack the fuckers. That should be a prerequisite in any bail out of the Big Three. nt

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Another prerequisite is that the Big Three make

cars running on alternatives--hybrid electrics and air cars. The technology is already there to do this.

[phantom power]

3. If Wagoner had any integrity, he'd resign in shame.

[monktonman]

4. Met the man two months ago. shook his hand.

came to the plant to tell us how bright our future
was and how we would be building cars in lordstown ohio
for the next thirty years.
The governor was there as well as all of the local
congress critters. They put on an impressive presentation.
Everyone left work that day feeling like their future was secure
in spite of the economic downturn.

I came to work on tuesday of this week and recieved a
60 day lay-off notice. We're being told by our union
reps that we probably wont be called back. The state
of ohio just announced its running out of unemployment money.
Maybe have enough $$ for another month.

Im really not sure what I'm gonna do.
Homelessness is not far away for me.
so much for a bright future.

[Dover]

5. I wonder if GM's military contract work is an issue in this?

I've read that they do a big business with the military, so might their demise (and Republican resistance to a bailout) be tied to competition for contracts? A long shot, but might be
interesting to dig into that a bit.

Personally, I think we ought to take advantage of this moment to decentralize this industry, or rather diversify it and inspire/reward entrepreneurs and innovators in this area.