I agree that the CEO's should not be flying in corporate jets. Rather, GM, Ford, Chrysler should be selling those jets and shedding assets. I heard Wagoner was perhaps willing to work for $1/year. If he and the other 2 CEO's aree willing to do that I say give them something. I worked for GM from 1979-84 in Detroit. There are a multitude of problems. In no particular order -- the company has always been greedy, maximize EPS, which worked well when the economy was rolling along. Build SUV's and people will buy them. Note that the Pontiac Fiero, a small sporty sports car, disappeared. Why? Low profit margins. Another problem was management arrogance. Third, the UAW. I read an article this morning from a Harvard guy. He said let them go Chapter 11 and re-emerge. The UAW still doesn't get it. Why can Toyota, Honda, etc. build cars more profitably? Simple -- wages and benefits that are reasonable. I'll never forget the year we (salaried) were told we had to give up some benefit. Management told us -- don't worry the UAW will also give this up. Well, the UAW said "we aren't giving it up and if you persist then we'll strike and shut down assembly and component plants". Management caved in and backed down.
That said, the auto industry needs something --- way to many jobs connected to the industry. If they fail unemployment would go to 12% IMO. And given that the Paulson financial bailout is a bunch of crap, with banks apparently using $$$ for anything from paying dividends to acquiring other banks, Detroit needs some help at this crucial time.
