Is Nardelli going to take home another $400mm for running a company into the ground?

UAW as joint owner. How will the UAW negotiate with itself? How does Chrysler mgmt prepare for negotiations with the UAW when there are UAW reps on the team? This will be interesting. Not to mention the US gov't being involved as part owner, too. Maybe this is going to be hysterical?

@usa_gatekeeper:

Ridiculous pay raises for all workers with more than 30 days on the job! Yay negotiations!

@TheFuzz53:

Is Nardelli going to take home another $400mm for running a company into the ground?

Can we replace "a" company into the ground with "another"? Home depot may not be in terrible financial trouble, but the policys he introduced and let bloom under his "leadership" have made it such a piss infested hell hole to work for.

Why do I think it would be best to replace our Grand Cherokee now rather than wait for FIAT/jeep's version.

@TheFuzz53: Isn't that what they hired him to do? I mean, his track record pretty much speaks for itself considering Home Depot...

@starrion: Car Talk put it best:

"What do you jet when you cross a Chrysler with a Fiat?

You get a LARGE car that won't start."

Sometimes, its just best to let a sinking ship sink. Maybe a failed corporation can serve as a warning to other businesses that if you aren't responsible, then you will fail. But, instead, we choose to reward incompetence with large sums of money and and a pat on the head. We need to let corporate darwinism do it's thing, and let only the strong survive.

@usa_gatekeeper: My understanding is that the UAW is looking to sell off their portion as quick as they can to fund the pension plan that Chrysler left in the lurch.

@usa_gatekeeper: Technically, the part owner is the trust fund that finances the UAW health plan. The administrators of the trust will be the ones doing the negotiations. They are appointed by the UAW, but it's in their best interest to make the company as profitable as possible so they can pay the costs of the health plan.

I wonder if there was ever a safety recall of some sort and after the bankruptcy is finalized, would the tax payers be on the hook for any law suites that may come as a result.

Why does ANYONE hire Nardelli?

Let him eat cake!

*THUMP THUMP THUMP*
Chrysler... just keeps on going!

Nardelli's got some talent of turning gold into a hot steamin' pile.

@skizsrodt:

When you let an automaker die, you're also causing hundreds or thousands of other businesses to die.

Hundreds of thousands of people will be out of work, with no place to go.

Propping up these companies and hoping for the best costs *far* less than dealing with the problems caused by allowing them to fail.

Chrysler is dead. How does a company run by the Govt and the UAW exist? A steady diet of taxpayer funded 'investments'? The UAW is only less short sited than politicians and we all know the importance of short sightedness in running business.

Whats gonna' happen is that Chrysler is gonna reintroduce the Volare with a fresh coat of lipstick and the public is going to their local Honda or Toyota dealers to avoid the spectacle.

The future purchase of a Chrysler or GM automobile with 'Govt discounts/credits' will be about as fulfilling as walking home with a block of 'Government cheese'. And just imagine the quality..

@B: Thanks, "B", but doesn't that still seem like a laughable conflict?

Also noticing an article tonight on GM wherein GM's, "...plan for a bankruptcy filing involves a quick sale of the company's healthy assets to a new company initially owned by the U.S. government, a source familiar with the situation said on Tuesday...."

[www.reuters.com]

Especially notable in the article: "..the government would extend a credit line to the new company and forgive the bulk of the $15.4 billion in emergency loans that the U.S. has already provided to GM, the source said..."

POOF! $15.4 billion blown and forgiven. Just like that (snaps fingers).

@RvLeshrac: As with anytime a business fails, something else will step up to take its place. It would be rough for a little while, but the market would eventually work itself out. All I see as a long term efect is that corporations will be less inclined to strive for total success when all they have to do is ask for a handout. Plus, given that the company is closing nearly 800 dealerships and going into bankruptcy, and closing its plants, these business are already going to hurt. Let it die, let something better take its place.

@Jay Gonzz: Actually, had the car companies listened to the UAW, they'd be in much better shape. While I agree that the workers were overpaid, the execs brought the company down... UAW doesn't deserve the beating it gets.

All of this is Atlas Shrugged come to fruition. The last straw will be when the Obama administration commandeers some breakthrough technology like a radical new battery design or super fuel-efficient engine.

@skizsrodt: I understand what you are saying and it would make some sense if it wasn't the entire industry. I would have agreed with you in the late seventies or early eighties the last time Chrysler was in trouble and the other companies were doing fine, but they are all losing money. Toyota, who has the best auto company in the world, lost over a billion dollars last quarter. No one is buying cars and the companies were geared up to the production of the last several years and they couldn't stop "on a dime". None of the companies would make it without government intervention.

@B: THANK you.
In fact, they're legally required to pursue the best interests of the trust. Even when it conflicts with short-term worker desires.

@RogueWarrior: Haven't read Atlas Shrugged (it's on my list), but whose fault is the current state of affairs? The voters who voted in the current and previous administration (both played a significant hand in this game), the government (appointed and employed by the officials who only occasionally listen to the voters who elected them), or the corporations (who went to the government with paws outstretched, begging for rescue)?

Ponder that for a while. Get back to me when enough libertarians organize around a common goal so that they can win elections. That won't happen of course, so the real solution is revolution. But a million revolters each doing their own thing do not a revolution make.

They do however make for a pretty good bunch of whiners.

@usa_gatekeeper: $15.4 billion is like pocket change in these high-spending times.

And money isn't real anymore (hasn't been for decades). Only the perception of money (intimately tied to the existence of debt) is real. So that $1 Federal Reserve Note in your hand? That means that the government owes you a dollar. You can satisfy debts with it, like when you owe the government a dollar.

Nardelli could be replaced by a potted plant and get better results. He's serious proof that what may be good for one company (GE) ain't good for others. He destroyed Home Depot and somehow that made him an awesome fit for Chrysler.

Now taking bets on what company is going to get ruined by Nardelli next.

To be fair to Nardelli even though I don't like him either, being hired to head Chrysler in 2007 is a lot like being hired to captain the Titanic. I tell you that at the time it sure sounded like a good idea to captain an unsinkable ship.

@usa_gatekeeper: It may seem like a conflict of interest, but strangely it doesn't normally work out that way.

As owners, the union would be able to vote on any contracts which required board approval, which is pretty rate. Usually, the board (which is where UAW would be represented) entrusts negotiations to the company's C-Suite. The board (owners) decide who to hire in the c-suite, so that's where UAW would exert their control. They could, for instance, press to hire a CEO who is sympathetic to the union. Of course, they aren't the only board members, and the other interests (Fiat, US Government, Canadian Government) would also have their say.

In the end, too many differing groups have a vote in the process to lean it toward one specific owner's interests.

Historically, this has not been a boon for unions nor a license for management to simply rubber stamp union demands. United Airlines, for instance, went through one of the most disruptive union contract renewal cycles while it was owned by the unions.

@curtisawa:

People are buying cars, but used ones, not new. Used cars are starting to rise in price and there will be less available as rental companies slowed down on buying new ones.
I just bought a used Benz that went for well over $100,000 a few years ago and hopefully as the economy gets better and the used car market suffers a squeeze the value will stay close to what I paid for it. Then 3 or 4 years down the road, another switcheroo.

How many billion did Nardelli get for screwing another company?

@Michael Belisle: It was like hiring Joseph Hazelwood to captain the Titanic.

Hey Bob Nardelli - you can come pooper-scoop my yard, sweep the sidewalk, and turn the compost heap once a week. I don't think even you can mess that up. I'll pay you $15, and your severance will be a big fat goose egg. (Seriously, I think that might be you only job offer you're going to get for a long time...)

But if I'm wrong, I'm going to use the fact that you'll kill any company you run as business intelligence and investment advice. ;o)