Now it would seem, like AIG, the US will take stakes in the Big Three, effectively buying into the companies and restricting their use of the money and ultimately limiting their ability to be competitive in a rapidly changing auto marketplace.  More enjoyable still is that many think a “car czar” will be required to “oversee” the Big Three and their use of the money.  Kenneth Feinberg’s name is being thrown around for this position, but besides being a lawyer and having some experience with the 9/11 victim’s compensation fund it doesn’t seem to me that he knows his head from a hole in the ground when it comes to cars.  What makes peope think that just because someone works for the government or is appointed to a role that they can accomplish that role without training, experience, and inside knowledge that would allow them to determine good from bad?

Sure, from the outside, with our 20-20 vision for what has happened in the past, it’s easy to see that all of the Big Three have made mistakes and bad decisions.  They’ve been wasteful, possibly short-sighted, and maybe even a little top-heavy (sounds like our government at times, doesn’t it?), but I believe that it’s going to take those same people to at least point us in the direction of what is to come.  Anything less than that and you’ve got someone guessing at what makes sense and what doesn’t.  GM management seems to know this, and I suspect that Chrysler and Ford have a good inkling, too.

“To blame the American automobile executives for this frankly is ridiculous,” GM Vice Chairman Mr. Lutz said, suggesting an unforseen downturn in the economy and housing market are the culprits. “How were we supposed to forecast this when the government doesn’t forecast it and the financial institutions couldn’t?”

On the good side (said with sarcasm), though, considering there are so many things for them to worry about, everyone seems to be in agreement that all auto-manufacturers should get rid of their private planes.  They media has focused on this, while forgetting how painful flying commercial for a senior management team can be.  Heck, I bet they write in the agreement that they even have to fly commercial and forfeit their frequent flier miles, too.

Ranter