Jamaican in Africa

GM’s Lutz to Say Goodbye: Strong Advocate for Volt

That our government also behaves irresponsibly does not excuse irresponsible behavior in the public sector. There has to be a change in attitude among those who feel that they are deserving of special treatment and have the right to squander what the rest of us have built whether they be employed in government or in industry.

Attack government leaders all you want for their wasteful spending and excesses, and I will join you in lambasting them. But the fact that one group is wasteful does not automatically excuse ostentatious, imperious and wasteful behavior in another. This hubris has to stop, and we the tax payers, and stock holders have to start demanding better stewardship of our hard earned money that is collected by government as taxes or invested in publicly held corporations in the form of shares.

Disagree with me all you want if you want to make excuses for corporate misbehavior. I won't, nor will I excuse the stupidity, mismanagement and shortsightedness that caused a steady erosion in this one proud company's value, thereby reducing its leaders to international beggars and causing so many people dedicated to lose all they have worked for. A pox on them and all their house.

On Feb 10 05:58 PM frank c wrote:

> You want to talk about ostentatious? Nancy Pelosi flys in a private
> large jet every weekend from Washington to California. This is government
> sponsored . the addage "people in glass houses should not throw stones"
> apparently applies only to the private sector, not our shameful government.
>

GM’s Lutz to Say Goodbye: Strong Advocate for Volt

GM failed because its fixed costs that were unrelated to production(pensions, health care benefits, jobs banks) were much larger than its competitors so it chased short term profits in order to meet the overhead expenses and it failed to anticipate the changing market place.

Bob Lutz must have felt like an Old Testament prophet "crying in the wilderness". While the policy makers at GM underfunded R&D they persited in gambling on the profitability of large SUVs and tolerated frivolous products that emphasized the number of cup holders and shiny hubcaps rather than on fuel efficiency, innovation and reliability.

Bub Lutz was a visionary, but from the evidence in the show rooms he was a lone voice among executives who wasted opportuntities to behave with fiscal restraint to the point where facing bankruptcy they defended the ostentatious conduct of flying to congress in empty private jets to beg for tax payer support.

A pox on all the out of touch executives who have squandered the nation's resources to support a lavish life style. They destroyed shareholder value in the organizations while they undermined innovation, suffocated the people with vision and hoisted on the American public products that emphasize paint and perfume rather than practicality and performance.