Not Ranked
I had the opportunity to watch some of the first day activities with the Big 3 CEOs, the UAW President as well as the macro-economist.
A couple of things struck me as very telling:
1. The macro-economist, indicated that of the Big 3, only Chrysler is wage competitive with the Hondas, Toyotas, etc. of the world. One would think once this was said, that somebody would address that. The only thing mentioned in response, I think it was the GM CEO, perhaps the UAW President, was only about how much the already have reduced costs. Nothing about how they plan (Ford & GM) plan to get their costs in line to compete. So at the end of this discussion, the statement was left unchallenged.
2. When asked directly regarding the Big 3's ability to repay the loan, the macro-economist essentially gave a somewhat restrained opinion that unless something changes, he did not see the money being paid back. Again, neither side of the aisle jumped on this so the statement was left essentially unchallenged.
At least IHMO, these were two lost opportunities that might have made a difference if there had been a plan to address.
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