American automakers do too little WAY too late

You’ve probably already seen the article, but here it is again.  General Motors to return two leased jets amid criticism.

Wow.  What a great and charitable move by an industry giant.  And, yes, the sarcasm meter is turned WAY up in that statement!

Not only is it incredibly naive of them to believe that the American taxpayers are going to accept their move as an act of contrition regarding their overspending, narcissistic, carefree millionaire attitudes but it’s way too little, way too late in the game.  And, you just can’t help but pick out how they’re really not trying to do more to show that they are getting their affairs in order before they bite the big one.

They’re giving back two planes.  TWO??  Out of a fleet of how many?  GM refuses to provide the name of the company they lease from.  Is it because the fees are exorbitantly high?  Is it because they agree to pay more than the regular rate?  No one really wants to answer that.  And they’re leased jets.  So how many do they actually own??

My favorite statements in the articles are these:

He [GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson], however, said the company has not decided on what mode of transportation [GM CEO Rick] Wagoner would take if had to travel to Washington again.  Wagoner and Ford CEO Alan Mulally are required by their companies to fly by private aircraft for security reasons, according to company documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

What?  What security reasons??  I wouldn’t recognize these bozos on the street if they walked up and gave me a million dollars (which I wish they would, but there you have it)!  Hell…watch Jay Leno’s “Jaywalking” on The Tonight Show and see just how uninformed most of the American public is.  Many can’t recognize their own State Senator or Representative for whom they claimed to vote.  So who’s stalking all these auto execs?  No one I can think of.  Well, no one unless you count the mind-numbingly large numbers of former auto workers who have been fired over the past years because CEO salaries have gone up while benefits, consumer trust, and caring for your employees has plummeted.

Toyota and Nissan aren’t really having the same problems that the American Big Three are.  I was in San Antonio, Texas, back in 2005 when Toyota was preparing to open their new plant there.  People were really excited about the new jobs and the hotel I stayed in was hosting some of the Japanese executives who were there to finish ironing out the deals.  Now, I’m certainly no millionaire who can stay at the ritzy hotels of any city.  Heck, I’m lucky if I can get a room at a Super 8 some days.  But these guys who make lots of money and represent one of the largest corporations in the world were staying at a regular hotel just like the rest of us.  I didn’t see security details around the hotel, so I guess they’re not as “wanted” as the American CEOs are, huh?

Maybe it’s because their employees come first.  When the very same Toyota plant they were building had to slow production this year due to decreased sales of the Tundra pickup they make, they didn’t fire their employees.  They shut the plant down for three months and paid, yes paid, their employees full salaries to attend training and complete community service projects throughout the city.  In addition, while the employees were working to better themselves and their community, the company implemented new improvements to safety and quality.  And employees who didn’t work on the one shift that was restarted?  They’re still getting paid to do program and self improvement projects.

Isn’t that what the American dream was?  Work hard and make yourself and your community a better place??  And the Japanese are having to teach us that in our own country??

So thanks, but no thanks to the “generous gesture” given by GM.  My confidence isn’t bolstered by it.  In fact,  I bet you’ll be hard-pressed to find many taxpayers who will say, “Oh, two planes?  That’s fine.  Now you may have all the money I and the rest of the country’s working class toiled hard to make and paid the government to use for national security, services, etc.  That’s fine with us now.”

Yeah…when it comes to overpaid executives sticking it to the little people, that sarcasm button doesn’t release lightly.