Friday, January 02, 2009
To borrow from President-elect Obama, we need to act with all deliberate haste - but with an emphasis on "deliberate." We cannot simply provide our automakers with enough cash to continue their current operations for another three months, or even another six. We must instead put them on a path that leads to global competitiveness.
Any assistance we provide to the auto industry should include the following conditions: First, the automakers should not pay dividends to shareholders until they have returned to financial health. Second, the current senior management must be replaced. We need new leadership, and fresh thinking, to steer us out of this mess. We cannot reward the leaders whose poor decisions got us to where we are now.
Third, we must place limits on executive compensation. Taxpayer money should not be used to reward individual executives unless and until the taxpayers have been repaid. Fourth, we must insist that the automakers increase average mileage per gallon to 40 MPG in ten years, or to 50 MPG by 2020. And last but not least, the automakers must increase production of FlexFuel, electric, and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Any assistance we provide to the auto industry should include the following conditions: First, the automakers should not pay dividends to shareholders until they have returned to financial health. Second, the current senior management must be replaced. We need new leadership, and fresh thinking, to steer us out of this mess. We cannot reward the leaders whose poor decisions got us to where we are now.
Third, we must place limits on executive compensation. Taxpayer money should not be used to reward individual executives unless and until the taxpayers have been repaid. Fourth, we must insist that the automakers increase average mileage per gallon to 40 MPG in ten years, or to 50 MPG by 2020. And last but not least, the automakers must increase production of FlexFuel, electric, and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
posted by author
@ 5:59 AM
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