Can we PLEASE make it part of the Bailout package?

As you may be following that the American auto industry (GM,Ford and Chrysler) is asking the US Government to bail them out with a $33 to $15 billion (not million but billion) loan. The Legislative body and the Executive body are currently scrutinizing the three companies and their bad practices. Today the President Elect Barack Obama stated that the CEO of GM should step down and Chrysler should be merged. I don't have an MBA or have any high level business acumen but I do read the papers and see that the big three pay around $70/hr on average to auto worker since the auto workers are part of an auto labor union. I also saw recently that GM cancelled their multi-million dollar endorsement deal with Tiger Woods. I don't know that an endorsement deal with an uber-good athlete is not a good marketing strategy. What I do know is a decent understanding of NFL football? The brain power behind Ford is also managing the Detroit Lions who still haven't won a game this year (0-13 to be precise). Henry Ford, the founder of Ford, must be rolling his grave (figuratively) to see his lineage not able to manage this creation. The Ford family's poor understanding of business, which is evident by Ford companies desire for taxpayer money, and having one of the worst NFL franchises in the last two decades. This worst franchise had one of the best running backs ever and they still kept loosing. People like Wayne Fontes and Matt Millen exemplify the astute business moves of the Ford family. Couple of years ago Matt Millen got an extension deal who was hired as their President, and General Manger (GM) with no GM experience. Matt Millen is probably one of the worst ever GMs in the history of NFL. He drafted poorly for the Lions picks in almost every draft he was involved. The biggest problem with the Lions is that they have never had a franchise quarterback. They need to hire a person like Bill Parcells to fix their problems but as you can see they haven't. These type of moves exemplify the Ford family. Therefore the bailout package must include that the Ford family sell the Detroit Lions and give their Thanksgiving game back to the league. For the last number of years, I have felt sick overeating on the turkey and watching the Lions loose. Then again the world isn't that bad. Could you imagine if Al Davis was running Ford, GM or Chrysler? Yikes!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kashmiri memories

Image
In the mid-80s,  my parents, my brother and I visited Srinagar in Kashmir, India. We stayed in a bed-and-breakfast houseboat on the Dal Lake.  I remember beauty, meeting merchants who sold saffron and wild honey .  The other remarkable thing is that the local police had beards, which were not seen in the rest of India.  I also saw locals carry their Kangers.  Kangers are woven baskets that have hot embers that are carried by folks under a Kashmiri robe called a Pheran . My trip to Kashmir was a unique experience because it was my first trip to a Muslim-dominant India where the customs were different from the majority of secure India.  It reminded me of Old Delhi, which is predominantly of Muslim Indians. While I was in Srinagar, there was a sense of uneasiness due to the political turmoil.  I am not sure if my family and I had a bias that Kashmir is trouble and we need to be extra cautious.  The local Kashmiri folks were great.  As a cricket...
Read more

The Impact of Mr. Jones' class

Image
Reflecting on my high school education, I recognize certain classes have had a significant impact on me from a personal and professional standpoint.  One of the classes I didn't enjoy much while taking it has made a considerable impact on me as a leader.  Nope.  It wasn't biology, physics, English, geography, or any other standard high school.  It was a course called History of Oklahoma. Yup!  In the early 1990s, the state of Oklahoma required students to take and pass a class about Oklahoma history to earn their high school diplomas.  I spent my ninth and tenth grades in Oklahoma and then completed my eleventh and twelfth grades in Kansas.   In the Spring of 1991, I took History of Oklahoma, which was taught by Mr. Jones.  Mr. Jones was a US Air Force pilot who flew sorties during the Vietnam War.  A couple of times, he had slide shows with pics of him and his buddies in the military.  Mr. Jones' classroom was also quite memorable ...
Read more

I have to say...

Image
I have to say that the position of the US President has been a huge fascination of mine from the last six and half years. I am a history buff and am a fan of social history. I don't care much for how a war was executed or which policies helped a country or two. I am a fan of social history and have been for most of my life. What I care about is how people through the rivers of time thought and perceived life around them. When you study this, you realize that the people may dress different, think different or even speak different but the common things that tie altogether through the splitting forces of time is how people individually react to stresses, joys and tragedies in life. US Presidents go through a heightened state of reactions since their decisions impact millions of people around them. My fascination started when I read the biography of John Adams by David McCullough. The book showed a human who was trying to do his best to lead a country but no one was happy with h...
Read more