The ….. Million Megabyte March

We’ve changed this into a virtual march, in part because we didn’t want to become targets for environmental groups or others.”

OR

because you realize it would be a complete was of money since your cars avg 8mpg

I hope a website & a bunch of people in t-shirts isnt the entire “plan” they were forced to create to save their sorry asses

… If they had planned to drive their most fuel efficient vehicles to Washington, why would they be the target of Eco-weenies?

This has got to be one of the stupidest ideas the Big Three have made. So what, a few hundred people are gonna construct blogs and rant about how they hate imports? I was hoping I could see Detroit ride into the capital with PRIDE for what they’ve made and what they stand for. I know, the next thing somebodies gonna say is “yeah, pride for the crap cars they’ve made”, but how about forgetting that sort of tired, recycled rhetoric.

I’m buying a Supercharge Hummer with a 8′ inch lift kit and 24″ DUBS with 42″ Super Swappers, and I’m going to march on over to Starbucks for a low fat latte, But better yet I’ll just walk over, it’s only down the street and there no reason to make a big deal out of it, you know what I mean…..

Crying failures asking for taxpayer money deserve to suffer. Chapter 11, bitches … and Chrysler, you’re not part of this … you privately run group of ABJECT losers.

Instead of carpooling… Why don’t they just ride a bicycle there instead, Granted it will take them a month or so to arrive.

http://djkonservo.wordpress.com/2008/11/24/saturday-night-live-cspan-auto-bailout-skit/

They should have done this at the start. If you are going to ask for anything you deem important you need to make the best and most possible show of it.

Showing up like they expected to get what they asked for… well, I wasn’t surprised at the Government’s response.

Wagoner could have arrived in a Escalade ESV and it would have made a better impression than the company plane.

Those jack@$$es better be willing to take a deep pay cut. They really don’t deserve their current pay (Except maybe Mullaly (sp?) who was hired to fix a mess that he has just finished getting the measure of) I know the Chrysler Exec was. But then I think he was a CERBERUS guy so that Organization would be footing him a bigger pay check. Mullaly seems more confident having what seemed like an “As long as you have the checkbook out” mentality.

This is just one bad pain after another. Sometimes I wish they would just file for bankruptcy and work up from there. If you keep the people appraised of the situation and make very clear and positive steps to improvement, then I don’t think DETROIT will lose many customers. As Long as we know they are trying and getting positive results which includes rolling out stuff we want on a “our lives depend on it” schedule, most of us will have they backs.

The outcry of them taking private jets to washington was BS. Any outcry over them taking a caravan of fuel efficient vehicles there is just more of the same. Folks, if this is what is necessary to keep manufacturing facilities in this country, this better get done. You’ll be crying a different tune when our ability to manufacture our own goods goes away and we have to go to war with a real country.

I say Cannonball Run. My Ram SRT10 is gassed up and ready to go!

Too much drama, and the name of their laughable web site is a joke! It sounds as though they are sending armed vehicles to shot at foreign manufacturers’ vehicles on their heroic trek to take back the roads again. Good luck, I will not be visiting their web site. I love the US, but I loathe stupidly and trickery. America is becoming a corporate welfare country. And you, the US Taxpayer, will be paying for it, and your children, and your grandchildren. Why? Because the people at the helm of the Big 2.000000000000001 are and were grossly incompetent. A further bailout is a vote for further incompetence. Look for new and better manufacturers—not the same old devout failures. And the war fear mongering propaganda—too much drama!

Too many morons who can’t read are commenting on here.

The auto execs and workers will still be driving to the capital. They’re setting up a virtual caravan for all of the OTHER people who expressed a desire to make the trip with the automakers. The worry about the Environmental groups would be the 51 cars, all of the fuel efficient kind, were about to be joined by hundreds of Lord knows how environmentally damaging vehicles. See Mutant@DCX’s comment for reference. Reading comprehension can help you with life.

“Although the majority of the caravan will now take place online, the automakers will still send 51 people to Washington in cars, each wearing a shirt displaying the total number of jobs the automakers have created in their respective states.”

You can read enough to complain, but obviously not enough to understand what’s actually going on.

This is proof that we have elected hippocritical morons to run our country.

I know, lets chastise the big three for saving time and keeping the ceo’s safe by using the safest form of transportation (private jets). Lets put everybody in cars and pay for meals and hotels, instead of a quick day trip in a jet. Sure this looks better to the retards watching the news (you and me), but it is a rediculous idea. Waste time driving to washington, when they need every bit of time to work on restructuring plans? What did that moron say? “couldn’t you guys have downgarded to first class, or jetpooled?” Yeah right lets put the ceos of 3 of the biggest corporations on the planet on a commercial flight. Sorry Wagoneer the cabin door has closed, your going to have to wait till we get to cruising altitude then you can stand by the bathroom and use the airphone. Speak softly though because the moron sitting next to you want’s to sell a transcript of everything you said to left lane news. Jet pool? Does anything really need to be said abou that? Obviosly none of them could conduct any sort of business while they are sitting next to their competitors. And what happens if the Jetpool plane crashes? all 3 ceos dead at the same time. I’m guessing at a critical time like this, losing a ceo unexpectedly would not help.

And the morons in Washington. What is the real problem? The US economy as a whole is faltering. Shouldn’t these senators be concerned with the money they are wasting on corporate jet travel before they accuse these ceo’s of wasting money? What they don’t fly commercial either? Oh well lets just raise the taxes.

Hahaha “the information superhighway instead”, what lame ****.

@drg, “all 3 ceos dead at the same time. I’m guessing at a critical time like this, losing a ceo unexpectedly would not help.” A one day news blip at best. That’s why companies have succession plans. In fact, had these three CEOs stepped-down and let others fill-in the ranks then people might have given them more sympathy. Chrysler is a privately owned company who’s owner, Cerberus, can easily sell-off its other assets to bail out Chrysler, but they would rather the US Taxpayer bail them out—it doesn’t work that way.

@Mayer – The “Terabyte March”?

Three CEOs in one private jet? They can’t conduct business? Um, it’s only a couple of hours. They don’t NEED to conduct business during those three hours. Instead, they should be rehearsing their presentations with each other. In a case like this, I think putting more heads together would have made for a much better presentation. As far as crashing, well, what if someone shot all three private jets down? Thinking of the worst scenario won’t get anyone anywhere. Sometimes, we just need to make a statement, and flying in three private jets made the wrong statement. Yeah, the media blew it up, but being CEOs, they should know what the media is capable of. We can be pretty brutal to powerful people that make bad decisions.

About flying on public planes, well, the CEO of my company does it all the time. We don’t have private jets. So, there’s nothing wrong with flying on big planes with other people. Most of the time, the higher-ups in my company fly first class, and they don’t conduct business while flying. However, due to the current market situation, we’ve been asked to use web conferencing instead of flying, and if we have to fly, we fly coach. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.

Oh, and for those wondering, the reason they are worried about an environmentalist backlash or targeting by environmentalists isn’t because their cars aren’t efficient. Heck, GM makes more cars that get over 30 mpg than anyone. The problem is that the Big 3 still have a reputation for making inefficient cars. When you think of fuel efficient cars, I guarantee 90% of the population still thinks of Toyota and Honda first. Extreme environmentalists don’t go by facts, they go by perception. It’s unfortunate, but true. And the heads of the Big 3 know and understand this.

@beatusmongous, I always respect your posts, but many believe that GM and the others should run the gauntlet if they are to succeed versus trying to avoid problems; problems come with the territory and it is how you handle the problems that determine whether you pass the gauntlet. Be a man about it Big 2.000000001. (BTW, I do not, and will not, support Chrysler because Cerberus is trying to bilk the US Taxpayer versus selling some of their vast assets.) Man Up GM and Ford, Man Up!!!

You know all the time the imports were struggling to get 32 mpg out of a 4 cyl. with a stick shift, GM was getting 30 mpg out of their 3.8 liter v6 in midsize sedans. The Big 3 does not get near enough credit for their products, even 10 minutes of research will show the skew.

@Lariat Luxury Locomotive Liner No.3 – You make a good point. However, I feel that implementing a sucession plan probably does not go as smoothly as people would like most of the time. The company is on the verge of bankruptcy, the worlds 2 largest economies are faltering, and the economic outlook loks bad until at least 2010. At a time like this, implenting a sucession plan would be like having a stroke during a heart attack. And for all 3 at the same time, I’m guessing there would be a gretaer effect on our economy than just a small news blip. But hey, just my opionion.

@beatusmongous – If you look at wagoner’s 2007 base salary, he would avergae $750 an hour. His total compesation package though would raise that average (asumminga 40 hour week) to $7548 per hour. Three hours spent at the airport is about $22,000 wasted as far as the company is concerned. If you add in the people travelling with him and the extra security that would be required, the total would be much higher.

The cost for 25 hours of flight time on a citation V according to netjets is 126,900. Netjets lists the travel time i(including time on the ground) for chicago to new york at 1.7 hours. I’m guessing detroit to d.c. would not be much different. So the cost for the flight would be $8,629. The palne seats 7 people, so the cost per person is $1232 per person. I’m guessing each ceo would have at least 6 people travelling with them. And yes when you buy more than 25 hours at a time the price drops.

@oldraven, it does say 51 people will be driving to Washington. Where does it say in the article that any of the 51 people will be the CEO’s of the big 3?

My guess is the number 51 represents each of the 50 states in the US, plus Puerto Rico. Unless, they’re driving their fuel-efficient cars that get 51 mpg, in which case, there are none of those in their line-up.

The bigger question is that when all this is said and done and should the Mid-Size 2.000001 even receive a government bail out (which in itself is ludicrous given what this country is founded upon) will there be enough sales to make a difference? Are consumers going to race to purchase vehicles from them? Enough to make a difference? Or are we simply prolonging the inevitable and throwing matters into a deeper abyss?

@Lariat, that’s a valid point. We’ve all read the reports of BMW’s, Mercs, etc. giving shade to acres of asphalt at the ports. Granted, much different price points but, will the folks go running out in droves to buy cars over the next few months?

drg, I highly doubt Wagoner gets paid by the hour. It’s a salary. There’s no such thing as wasted hours in an airport. If he goes to work three hours early, they’re not going to pay him an additional $22000, he’ll just get what he gets paid. Using that argument, he would be getting paid when he slept or took at **** at home.

and procrastinate now, it doesn’t say the automakers won’t be going either. People were commenting as if they weren’t sending their fuel efficient cars to the capitol, because they were doing it virtually, INSTEAD. The fact is the only people taking the virtual trip are citizens who wanted to join the D3.

I also think, that when North Americans finally realise who close they are to killing off one of the largest manufacturing sectors we have, they will begin to buy from Detroit again. But that all depends on how the story is told. You’d think the media, after getting slammed by auto marketing cutbacks, would have the sense to paint a better picture for the D3, to get some of their old business back.

I’m not a Big 2 1/2 hater, I want to see them survive as much as anyone; but will everyone please stop touting GM’s “More models over 30 MPG than any other company. When a company re badges the same model for 3 or 4 brands, does that really count as 4 unique models?

Yes. As much as an Infiniti G37 is a different model than a Nissan 370Z. There’s more there to tell them apart than a Wave/Aveo, but they’re still different models.

old raven – You may not have read my original post. In my post i wrote he would average that pay, if you assumed a 40 hour work week. Getting paid to sleep and drop scat? well that would be more like a 168 hour work week. With that logic he gets paid $178 per hour base pay, and his total compensation is $1,797 per hour regardless of wether he is sleeping or awake. Using the same logic, his time wasted (3 hours) at the airport amounts to only $5,391. I do think that the people who have the ability to fire the ceo, the board of directors, care very much how he spends his costly time.

I just wish I got paid $1,791 per hour to count sheep and spackle the toilet.

Same here. Sadly, I’m no longer a salary guy. I’m just pointing out that you can take a salary and divide it by the average number of hours he works and get an average rate of pay, just to compare, but that doesn’t mean you can make it an hourly pay rate, that compounds with every additional hour he works. If he works 40 hours this week, he makes (number sourced from my arse) $40000. If he works 50 hours next week, he’ll still only make $40000, not $50000. It won’t cost them any more money to put him on a public plane, due to his salary being predetermined.

“Although the majority of the caravan will now take place online, the automakers will still send 51 people to Washington in cars, each wearing a shirt displaying the total number of jobs the automakers have created in their respective states.”

@oldraven, I don’t know if the Big 3 CEO’s will be in the Caravan, or not. We’ll find out next week. But, if you look at the above paragraph, each of the 51 people will be wearing a t-shirt? displaying the number of jobs created by the Big 3, in their respective states. I doubt the CEO’s will be wearing t-shirts. But, you could be right.

Who knows right now? We don’t have enough info to even contemplate if they’re flying or driving. I just hope that when the cars get there, the CEO’s stay out of the press photos. The public needs to see the cars, and the workers. They’re already sick to death of the CEO’s.

@oldraven, if I know anything, I know you right about that.

…you’re…

Of course his salary doesn’t change, but obviously productivity does change. If time is worth nothing and cost is the only factor, just take Greyhound.

Folks, don’t forget that these morons in DC are the same morons who GAVE $17 billion dollars of your money to big oil when big oil was making 100’s of billions in profits!!!! I can’t help but think those billions wound their way back into DC’s pockets. Why doesn’t big oil loan the Big 3 the money they need…..they certainly have a vested interest in selling the most fuel they can!

Just saw the new Fusion, Milan, MKZ, Mustang, Traverse and others and believe me, they are all beautiful vehicles, so things are vastly improving. And remember, they are only asking for a LOAN, not a bail-out like some Wall Street robber barons are getting.

Actually we know what Mullaly drives: he owns Lexus LS 430. Probably bought before he was recruited for Ford gig, but he drives often. Obviously nothing FoMoCo produces comes close.

@LLLLN#3, I’m not saying that they shouldn’t “run the gauntlet”. I’m just stating where the cause for concern is coming from, and pointing out that the heads know this.

@drg, the decision to save a few grand in “time” could have cost GM billions in financing. Spending time in the airport in a situation like this is not necessarily a waste, but a sacrifice. Sometimes you just have to do what’s “right”, and not what’s technically less costly. It would have made a better impression on Congress, the Media and the general public if they had plane-pooled or flown on public transports. And that impression could be worth billions.

What has become crystal clear is that there are exponentially, and growing by the day, more questions than answers to this issue.

While this may be viewed as either a noble effort or simply damage control is irrelevant. If Joe Q Public owns a radio or a television he’s well aware of Detroit’s fuel mileage claims. Here’s the real problem: while wandering the lot at our local GM store yesterday we came across an ‘07 Cadillac DTS with only 22k kms that had a price tag of $23,900 Cdn. That’s waaaaay less than half original msrp for a 2 year old premium car that was in immaculate condition. If I wasn’t currently the victim of the same depreciation circumstance my wife would be driving that Caddy today instead of a Sebring.

@johnnyDTScanuck, the problem is the DTS is done, and so will be the parts as they dwindle. I have gone that route with two GM automobiles (both purchased the year before they ended the model) and it was a PITA, not to mention the residual value simply zeroed.

LLLL#3, yeah you’re probably right but those seats would have gone a long way to alleviate the PIMA. They were nice. I tell you, mount a TV on the dash and put in a beer fridge and I’d have my butt planted there right now watching the Giants.

as soon as the government started making laws affecting day to day operations of financial institutions and who they gave loans to it was their responsibility to set things right, They’ve had their fingers in the automotive pie far longer.