News: Big 3 execs fly private JETS to DC to bag for cash

Eh, I think that Mulally (Ford chief) actually gets it. Mulally drives his own Lexus to work every day and says that when Ford builds a better car, then he'll drive it. I like his attitude; it's an open challenge to all the employees.
I like this man. Ford is going to make it through this just fine. :lol:
 
Hey, Mulally is the guy who is most responsible from turning Boeing around from the "Airbus is going to kill it any second now company because they have no orders" company to the "Airbus cringes at the very name of the Mighty Boeing and is desperately trying to figure out how to stay relevant" company.

Despite what auto industry insiders say about Mulally destined for failure because he's not from the auto industry, I think he's exactly what Ford needs - an outsider with a track record of fixing a huge broken American manufacturer, who doesn't have vested interests or friends he has to pay back, and who won't honor stupid traditions (like "the CEO of Ford must drive a Ford product") just because they're tradition.

Hell, Mulally is responsible for the fact that we're actually going to get any Euro Ford product *at all*!
 
(like "the CEO of Ford must drive a Ford product")
Interesting side note about that; the UAW restricts what kind of cars can park in the parking lots. Only cars of that plant's make can park in the "prime" spots, and in some plants you can't even park in the parking lot if you drive an import. There was huge backlash about this a couple of years ago when the UAW offered parking to returning Marines being stationed in Detroit, but kept up that "domestics only" rule and turned some away. Also, the local autocross group I'm with was kicked off of the GM plant site we used because some of us drove imports. :lol:
 
Yeah, I know about that.... the UAW eventually reversed itself on the Marines (it wasn't just imports but any vehicle with a pro-Bush sticker), but not until after there was a huge PR backlash. It was right about then (I'm the son of a Marine who was spat on after coming home from Viet Nam) that I lost the little remaining patience I had with the UAW and decided that I would never ever willingly hire a UAW worker if I had any control over it.

As for the no imports policy - employees should be allowed to purchase and drive vehicles from the competition. After all, if the employee chooses to go buy something else, even with the enormous discounts they get, obviously the manufacturer is doing something wrong and they need to find out what. In addition, it would do the UAW slugs good to see what *real* cars look like.

Another fun thing was when someone drove up in a Mitsu Galant to visit some Chrysler plant, and the UAW workers trashed it plus painted "BUY UNION MADE" on it. Well, one problem - the Galant WAS union made in Illinois, on the same line as the Chrysler Sebring. Whooops.
 
what? the ford guy gets 28 mill a year!!! (and doesnt have his own jet?)

i mean come on... 1) the companies have only pocket dust and a bit of fluff left in their wallets 2) theyre still losing money 3) its the CEO's job to stop that therefore 4) the CEO clearly isnt doing their job therefore 5) shouldnt be getting paid that much to do a lousy job.

seems like the whole problem with your big 3 to me..... to many people getting paid too much money to do a shite job.

i know its gotta be tough being the CEO of such large bodies, but come on if theyre getting paid that much you'd think theyd make sure they were made of the right stuff to get the job done. thing is as well, since they all sit on each others boards and scratch each others backs, they can score these pay cheques and score big payouts when they leave... or more likely get kicked out by the share holders. makes me sick.
 
You'd *have* to pay me an absurd amount of money to head up Ford if I was Boeing's #2 man. If Ford fails through no fault of mine, that would be the last job I would ever have because I would be blamed. I'd never be able to work anywhere again. You bet your ass that I'd be asking for a lot of money per year. Mulally's no idiot. In order to hire talent away from somewhere else, you have to pay them. $28 million is *cheap* for a top talent exec, especially if he can do the job. Mulally appears competent, so I don't begrudge him that salary.

Also, FYI, a Gulfstream V G500 corporate jet starts at $38 million and no, they don't take installment payments. A G550? That's $46 million. A Boeing BizJet? That's $48 million. Boeing doesn't take installment payments either. Two pilots cost about $500,000 to $1M per year, insurance and FAA mandated annual training add another $1-1.5M per year. Yearly operational costs are about $4M. Consider that Mulally is probably saving all his money (from all reports, he lives a very modest lifestyle) in case Ford tanks, and you can probably understand why he's using the jet Ford probably already had instead of buying his own.

Next, Ford isn't the one screaming for the bailout. Ford actually has a nice cash reserve. What they *are* doing is making sure that if Congress is handing out free money that they'll be in line for some. I mean, if someone is giving out free money, you'd be an idiot to not try to get some, wouldn't you?
 
Also, FYI, a Gulfstream V G500 corporate jet starts at $38 million and no, they don't take installment payments. A G550? That's $46 million. A Boeing BizJet? That's $48 million. Boeing doesn't take installment payments either. Two pilots cost about $500,000 to $1M per year, insurance and FAA mandated annual training add another $1-1.5M per year. Yearly operational costs are about $4M. Consider that Mulally is probably saving all his money (from all reports, he lives a very modest lifestyle) in case Ford tanks, and you can probably understand why he's using the jet Ford probably already had instead of buying his own.
You can get a Boeing 727-200 for $2 million, through the power of eBay. :lol:
 
These guys are CEO's. It's almost like asking the President of a country to fly business class next time.

Private jets are a necessity.

What did you expect them to do, carpool their way to Washington?

This is stupid, pointless media fearmongering BS.
It's the rich asking the rich for more money.



I'm with these guys, I don't see anything wrong with travelling in luxrious private jets and still ask for money to run their company.

$20K round trip is a small amount when compared to $25 billion.
 
You can get a Boeing 727-200 for $2 million, through the power of eBay. :lol:

I think I saw that ad... problem is, getting the FAA cert for that one would be something like $5M, and maintenance + operational costs on a 727 would be something like *$40M* per year, since most of the parts would now have to be fabbed up and the thing was a thirsty SOB. And, IIRC, that 727-200 was close to overhaul time for all three engines, so that's a mil per.... And since it's a Stage 2 jet (it's actually one of the loudest commercial jets ever flown), you can't fly it into or out of many urban airports in the US without applying the several million dollar Super 27 kits that replace the side engines and put a hush kit (aka muffler) on the center engine.

Cheaper to just get a newer jet...
 
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Its disgusting that's what it is.

Let's say you're Airbus' #2 and you've been there for decades. You're offered a job that pays an ASSLOAD of money to clean up a car company, but it's headquartered in Zimbabwe.

Wouldn't you make a point of having a flight home every weekend before you'd take the job?

FYI, Zimbabwe is better than some places in Detroit. I wouldn't want to bring my family to either place.
 
Irrelevant. Our italian CEO flew home every friday for the year we had him on a normal commercial flight. Because that is sound business practice. Excesses like private jets are not.
 
It would have been a nice symbolic statement to maybe not take those nice jets, but I mean, would YOU want to hang out in an airport in Detroit for a couple of hours?

Bad form, yes, but I can't really hold it against them upon thinking about it.
 
Irrelevant. Our italian CEO flew home every friday for the year we had him on a normal commercial flight. Because that is sound business practice. Excesses like private jets are not.

exactly. Especially if you're going to beg to a government for billions of monies, it shows that you've already made some effective cost cutting before going like "hey dad I need 500 dollars..."
 
Irrelevant. Our italian CEO flew home every friday for the year we had him on a normal commercial flight. Because that is sound business practice. Excesses like private jets are not.
Agreed. The millions GM would save by flying commercial would be a drop in the bucket for them, but it's still millions for a company that's hemorrhaging money. Yeah, I understand that half the point of a private jet is to get business done in the air, but in retrospect, it would've been a great PR move if Wagoner flew commercial.
 
How about they share a jet? Would it be so bad to pick up the phone and call the guys you know are going to the same place for the same meeting and split the bill? I am sure that between thier companies fleets of planes that they have one big enough to carry everyone with room to spare.

And nobody is worth 28 million a year.
 
You'd have to pay me $28 million to be the head of one of these automakers...
 
I wouldn't do the job for less than $50M/year. Why? Because if the company goes down in flames, there's NO way anyone would ever hire me again for anything - including fry cook at McDonalds, even if it wasn't my fault.
 
And nobody is worth 28 million a year.

Yes they are. And like Spectre said above, shit rolls uphill. And when this amount of shit is rolling uphill pretty quickly, the big wigs want financial remuneration to reflect the amount of shit they may be covered in.
 
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