That excellent Friedman column on Detroit

OP-ED: “How to Fix a Flat,” by Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times, 12 November 2008.

This column reminds me of the scene in “Toy Story II” when Mrs. Potato Head tells her husband that she’s going to pack his “angry eyes” for the great adventure ahead—just in case he needs them.

Friedman put on his angry eyes for this one, and it works.

He’s super-pissed at Michigan’s congressional delegation for shielding Detroit’s automakers from the realities of a changing market for so long, so he approvingly quotes the WSJ op-ed by Paul Ingrassia that says entire boards of directors and senior management should be fired and replaced in return for any bailout.

Friedman gets even more amped: demanding we turn GM over to Steve Jobs for a few years.

Good stuff. Keep your angry eyes in, Tom.

Comments

[Matt Osborne]

The market caps for all three automakers put together is less than $7 billion. Rather than spend $25B on a bailout or watch the companies go into Chap. 11 (which would probably turn into Chap.7, given the credit crisis), why not just...BUY the Big Three, fire the management, restructure the companies and retool them for the cars of the future, and then sell them back to Wall Street at a profit? Am I missing something here?

[Ted O'Connor]

I remember when Ralph Nader went after "Detroit". One of the things that he found out was that cars destined for celebrities or big shots got special treatment. There were days (all manufacturers) when the line would be stopped and veteran inspectors and supervisors would take up posts. As the line started up again, this team would follow the cars to the finish. No, flaws, no sabotage. So the top executives at these companies, or the celebs who endorsed the cars, or the Senators and government honchos who were going to get these "special" cars never ended up with the cars that the rest of us got. That was Detroit's solution to quality control. We bailed out Chrysler once before. I just saw "Consumer Reports" Automobile issue for 2009. Once again, Chrysler products receive the lowest ratings. They just keep making bad cars. It has to stop. I don't like the idea of the government telling them what to make. Sounds too much like the old Soviet Union where the shoe factory made the same exact shoes for 50 years, only changing the number produced based on figures provided by the Commissar who counted feet.

[large]

Matt . . The government isn't supposed to make a profit . . EVER!

nor, apparently, Break Even . . .

And for 60 years they have proven it!

[Mike H.]

It's a bit of a hoot that Friedman calls out John Dingell in particular. One week later, Mr. Dingell is ousted as Chairman of the House Energy Committee.

These are the kind of clues and tells we all pick up on to see where certain political things are going.