This Should Work Out Just Fine
– Dude Tapped To Lead GM Out of Bankruptcy Says ‘I Don’t Know Anything About Cars…’ –
But he did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
Which is all the folks at the U.S. Treasury Department needed to know in order to tap Edward E. Whitacre, Jr., a former AT&T CEO, to be the man who steers (zing!) General Motors out of bankruptcy.
According to Bloomberg News, during his tenure at AT&T Whitacre’s accomplishments include building AT&T into the “biggest U.S. provider of telephone service” from um, … being the biggest U.S. provider of phone service.
The 67-year-old Whitacre maintains he’s not too old to “learn about cars” and says he relishes the challenge of discovering how to look before backing into traffic and how to shut off his blinker light after signaling a lane change.
How awesome is it that your tax dollars are going not only to bail out GM but but also to provide on-the-job training for the guy in charge? Only when the government’s handling things can you get that kind of value for your investment dollars.
The nonsensical jargon regarding Whitacre’s appointment was at fever pitch, as you may have expected under the Federal marketing of the bailout plan. One observer noted:
“He [Whitacre] was one of the guys who helped create a new AT&T that wasn’t so dependent on land-line phone service … There’s a parallel with General Motors. GM is not now about just making cars. It’s about re-creating itself as a 21st-century car company.”
Translation: GM’s isn’t just going to make cars anymore. Now, they’re going to be a company that makes cars. In the 21st century.
Yeah, you’re right. It doesn’t make any more sense that way, either.
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“There’s only three things you need to know about running a car company…”
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Image: Zuma Press
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