There are 'one too many' automakers, Bank of America CEO says

[Bozita]

Source: Detroit News

Tuesday, November 18, 2008
There are 'one too many' automakers, Bank of America CEO says
Nathan Hurst / The Detroit News


DETROIT -- The CEO of Bank of America Corp. said Tuesday that he wasn't in favor of a bailout for the Big Three unless it meant major consolidation of the industry.

"The Big Three is one too many," Bank of America's Kenneth Lewis told a lunchtime audience at a meeting of the Detroit Economic Club Tuesday afternoon.

"I think the American people are suspect of just giving more money and buying more time. They want to see that the companies have in fact changed and the strategies have changed."

Lewis' comments came as the banking executive spoke to the gathering of prominent business leaders on the future of American homeownership in the midst of the country's growing foreclosure crisis, which has hit states like Michigan particularly hard.

Read more: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081...

---

BoA collected how many taxpayer dollars from Henry Paulson?

[DJ13]

1. .....says the CEO of an industry thats consolidated itself to the point

.... of absurdity.

[OregonBlue]

55. Chinese car makers plan to aquire GM & Chrysler-emptywheel article at firedoglake.

The link provided by emptywheel is a Chinese language financial publication http://www.21cbh.com /

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com /

Last week, I suggested that Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation might be the most likely GM buyer, if it came to that.

So if GM goes bankrupt in January, as may happen, it may well have to sell itself off (unless the government guarantees the same kind of financing that it is refusing now). And I believe one company is one of the most likely--and indeed sensible--buyers: Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, or SAIC, the Chinese company with which GM partners to do business in that country.

Apparently, the Chinese thought so too.
Chinese carmakers SAIC and Dongfeng have plans to acquire GM and Chrysler, China’s 21st Century Business Herald reports today. The paper cites a senior official of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology– the state regulator of China’s auto industry– who dropped the hint that "the auto manufacturing giants in China, such as Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) and Dongfeng Motor Corporation, have the capability and intention to buy some assets of the two crisis-plagued American automakers." These hints are very often followed with quick action in the Middle Kingdom. The hints were dropped just a few days after the same Chinese government gave its auto makers the go-ahead to invest abroad. And why would they do that?

A take-over of a large overseas auto maker would fit perfectly into China’s plans. As reported before, China has realized that its export chances are slim without unfettered access to foreign technology. The brand cachet of Chinese cars abroad is, shall we say, challenged. The Chinese could easily export Made-in-China VWs, Toyotas, Buicks. If their joint venture partner would let them. The solution: Buy the joint venture partner. Especially, when he’s in deep trouble.


So by all means, let's let them fail and let the Chinese buy them and flood our markets with Chinese cars!!

[customerserviceguy]

56. Interesting

I wonder how a Chinese car company would weasel out of the pension and healthcare obligations connected with buying Ford and/or GM?

Melamine as a food additive in the company cafeteria, perhaps?

[OregonBlue]

59. LOL. That might work.

[customerserviceguy]

60. More likely

they'd gut the company, then just file for Chapter 7. Buying up one's competitors to dismember them is an old capitalist trick.

[OregonBlue]

61. Yes and be left with many, many dealerships to distribute THEIR Chinese brands.

[Hissyspit]

2. These guys get paid the big bucks for what exactly???

[Nihil]

18. Purely and simply ...

... they get paid big bucks for persuading people to pay them big bucks.

This usually means that they distribute a proportion of said big bucks
to their cronies (including, of course, the ones who OK'd hiring the CEOs
in the first place).

No-one seriously believes that this level of "management" are paid according
to merit, ability or skill do they?

[UpInArms]

3. UIA says there are 156 too many banks with their hands in the taxpayers' pockets

from one of the assholes that demands everyone else be the first to make a "sacrifice"

how 'bout his head on chopping block?

[valerief]

4. I know. The Big 3 can merge with a foreign automaker. Then we'll buy their cars. nt

[sarcasmo]

5. There are one to many banks. If this isn't obvious I don't know what is, the more nonsense

I hear coming from the right, makes me realize it's all about destroying the big three.

[LisaM]

6. They are determined to break the UAW

It's all about unions. It's insane. Look at that senator from Alabama. He is probably salivating at the idea of creating non-union jobs in the south.

[Bozita]

7. That's why they want Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Wages, healthcare, retirement.

Remember the UAL bankruptcy.

[sarcasmo]

64. In Chapter 11, does that free the company from paying all three you listed?

[Bozita]

65. Yes, if so ordered by the bankruptcy judge.

IMHO, Chapter 11 is the most valuable tool in management's corner for destroying existing labor contracts.

[sarcasmo]

66. That is scary, it that happens.

[The Wizard]

15. Toyota wouldn't open an assembly plant

in Alabama because they couldn't find enough literate workers to operate at 100% capacity. Alabama and Mississippi spend the least on public education.
Toyota chose Canada instead as the work force was better educated and they have universal health care that saved them four to five dollars per hour per employee.
Yet two more reasons for spending on education and health care.
Fact is, Republicans are only interested in cheap labor and immediate gratification for the upper income brackets.
The gap between the rich and poor is at its widest since the Great Depression. Some people never learn.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

46. BINGO, REPUBLICANS ARE A DISEASE

[Bake]

51. News flash: Toyota is building a plant in Tupelo, MS

Helloooooooooooooooo....

Bake

[hunter]

68. Woohoo! No Unions!

Nobody to buy cars, either, so maybe we can all become bilionaires trading toxic debt until we starve to death.

U.S. CEOs do not live in reality (including the ultimate CEO-in-chief George W. Bush) and now we all have to suffer for that.

[bluesmail]

8. Till one corporation owns... oh crap, IT'S EXXON! RUN!

[Truth Teller]

9. Truth Teller says.....

"There are 'one too many' bank CEO's"

[dixiegrrrrl]

17. Your sig line just hit me between the eyes. Thank you.

I remember the man..back in the day.

[Truth Teller]

50. It's a great one, isn't it? n/t

[burrowowl]

10. BoA

is a hotbed of felons!
Did a loan from then and for $3,500 they got more than $150 extra for a 'document' mistake they made! Crooks! Felons! etc.!

[tismyself]

11. Thus the Mouth of Sauron has spoken.

[Bozita]

12. BoA/Merrill has taken $25 BILLION of taxpayer money in the bailout

No bank has gotten more.

Kenneth Lewis is America's greediest welfare queen.

See where the money went:
http://www.propublica.org/feature/bailout-bucks-to-bank...

[LiberalFighter]

13. How much does this bastard steal from his company?

[Mind_your_head]

14. We should only have one car manufacturer, one restaurant, one bank, one hotel,

one school, one church, one religion.....We can all be ONE! bwhahahhahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Think of it? No competition! No other ways of thinking! It will be MARVELOUS!!!! bwahahhaahhahahaah...........

[malletgirl02]

53. I know you are being Sarastic

However, I think that is what this guy actually wants. Everything owned by Bank of America.

[JNelson6563]

16. That's funny, I was thinking the same thing about the banks

and, more specifically, bank CEOs. The most expendable motherfuckers to ever walk the earth.

I'd rant more but this overdose of irony is making me wretch.

Julie

[midnight]

19. The irony indeed.... You make an excellent point....

[DogPoundPup]

20. Bank CEO who took bailout opposes aid for automakers

Source: Houston Chronicle

DETROIT — The chief executive of a major U.S. bank that received $25 billion from the government's financial bailout package said Tuesday that federal aid shouldn't be dispensed to the ailing Detroit Three automakers — unless they become the Detroit Two.

"I think there's one too many" automakers, Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis told the Detroit Economic Club during a meeting in Cobo Center, the downtown convention center that's home to the North American International Auto Show each January. He added he would require consolidation if he was deciding on a bailout.

"I think the American people are suspect of just giving more money and buying more time," he told reporters after the speech. "They want to see that the companies have in fact changed and the strategies have changed."

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told Congress earlier in the day the administration remains firmly opposed to dipping into the government's $700 billion financial rescue package on behalf of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC. He said "there are other ways" to help them.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/6119644.ht...

[Iwillnevergiveup]

21. I got mine

and that's all that matters.

[Joe Bacon]

36. I see Ayn as in Mine Rand is alive and well

Hmm, lets take that $25 billion back from this hypocrite. Fuck Bank of America!

[The Backlash Cometh]

38. That's how they think. Right on the nosey.

[dysfunctional press]

62. a great way to illustrate the difference in thinking between democrats and repugs-

repug: "i got mine, you get yours"

Democrat: "i got mine, how can i help you get yours?"

[Frisbee]

22. Pot, meet kettle...kettle, meet pot.

[Warren Stupidity]

23. Yeah 'cause as we learned us here already

banks really make something, unlike car companies. I am astounded by the idiocy I see here on a regular basis.

[customerserviceguy]

57. They do make one thing: loans

and that might well explain where this clown is coming from. I'm sure Bank of America is sitting on a pile of repossessed cars right now, and is expecting to be acquiring many more as economic conditions worsen. Anything that tightens up the market for cars helps his bottom line.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

24. when Britain's manufacturing industries died in the 1980s and 1990s

the monetarists, bankers and corporate CEOS declared "it's not for the government to prop up unprofitable industries" and "no more government money for 'lame duck' producers."

Come the 2008 Financial Crisis, and those same monetarists, bankers and CEOs were first in the queue for a slurp of the government trough. They got $150 billion ($300 billion) of UK money.

USA, don't let your manufacturing slip away like successive British governments let ours slip away. Take them under public ownership again and reinvest the profits back to taxpayers. The monetarist economic model is a failure and a joke.

[bluesbassman]

25. Pray tell Mr. Lewis, what strategies have you and your buddies changed?

After getting your handouts from the public till, how many BofA and Countrywide employees will you lay off? Is that your grand new strategy, putting more people on the street?

[4lbs]

26. Wow. At least the auto manufacturers in today's Senate hearing said they'd be willing to

take massive pay cuts until their companies were profitable again, like relatively low base salaries for the executives and no stock/cash bonuses.

Would have been nice to see the bank execs do the same before taking $300 billion.

[orleans]

27. HA! HA! HA! HA! WHAT A PIG DICK! n/t

[Lasher]

28. I guess the big 3 could borrow $25 billion from Bank of America.

After all, things always work better in the private sector.

[Kolesar]

29. Corporate America would be happy with 800,000 retirees losing their medical benefits.

These creeps are so damn cavalier. They act like they can delete these expenses like a line item.

[bulloney]

30. We have idiots like Lewis support the death of the largest area of U.S. manufacturing.

Then, we wonder why everything we purchase is imported. We wonder why China and India are eating our lunch when it comes to economic growth.

There's a sector of the population that really believes that a country can sustain itself on service and financial industries alone. They don't believe that new wealth can only be generated from the Earth--agriculture, mining and drilling, and manufacturing.

These banks and Wall Street big shots thought they were generating new wealth with their Ponzi schemes. When they collapse, they act like they can't make the connection. So much for their MBA educations.

[Kalyan]

31. preaching !!!

A wise man said in my native language, " beggars cannot preach"

Mr. CEO - you received your alms. No why don't you go and jump for joy somewhere else and not interrupt the line. If you need more, join at the end of the queue. Get going now!

[City Lights]

32. And I think America has (at least) one too many greedy, assholian, arrogant, hypocritical CEOs.

What nerve!

Thanks, Kenny Boy Lewis, for putting a name with the face of ugly corporate America!

typo edit

[liberal N proud]

33. It's the "I want it all" mentality

And you can go get screwed because I will take it all.


I hate these fuckers.

[Roland99]

34. It's those damn unions' fault! Damn them to hell!!

[Ganja Ninja]

37. It always gets me how people that would never ever in a million years ...

take a job on an assembly line, seem to know that the people who do are grossly overpaid.

[Roland99]

39. Assembly line workers are very handsomely paid, even when laid off or on plant shutdowns

There is room for the unions to cut pay (yeah, it sucks, and people need to learn to adjust their standard of living)

But the demonizing of the unions by the right and media outlets like CNBC is just sickening!

[PassingFair]

35. I agree with him....

I think Chrysler should file for bankruptcy.

Bail out GM and Ford.

Cerberus can suck it.

[Roland99]

42. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing GM and Ford split into pieces

Too many marks under one name and you end up with automotive versions of the banks that were "too big to fail"

If they're too big to fail, then they're too big to exist, imho.

[melm00se]

40. to quote Pink Floyd

Money, get back.
I'm all right jack keep your hands off of my stack.

[progressoid]

41. I me me mine.

[Festivito]

43. Kill UNIONS and COMPETITION. Another fascist RWer.

There must only be one person in charge of everything. A lotto of life winner. We can all dream to be that person.

Ahhhh.

[OhioChick]

44. The bastard is against an auto bailout, because the greedy ass already got his.

n/t

[NJmaverick]

45. Yeah let us listen to the wisdom of the banking industry

after all they have done so well....

[JVS]

47. There are several too many banks.

[customerserviceguy]

58. And asshats like this one

are using Hank Paulsen's bailout money to buy up smaller ones. Eventually, there will only be one or two in most areas.

And god help you if you accidentally bounce a check...

[w4rma]

48. Monopolies are bad for the economy. (nt)

[bdamomma]

49. I think there's one too many CEO's

[Bake]

52. So which one needs to go?

GM? Ford? Chrysler?

And who decides?

Bake

[Gormy Cuss]

54. There are 'one too many' big banks, Detroit CEOs say. n/t

[Strawman]

63. Arguing for a hard landing for the auto industry in a recession is insane

It's fucking insane.

These people are blinded by their hatred of unions.

[Zorra]

67. Pot, meet kettle: Bank of America sees record credit card losses.

"We, as an industry, may end up with possibly the highest credit card losses the industry has ever experienced," Lewis said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTRE4AH8...

At least automakers produce something.

We should help the workers take over and manage the car companies, and get rid of all the overpaid worthless dumbass CEO's.