P
If its free, its P
Taken from the AARP website from an interview with the man himself, still holding it down at 84yrs old.
Thirty years ago Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca engineered a controversial government bailout of the world's third-largest automaker. Chrysler paid back its loan in three years, and Iacocca became a business icon who, by 1985, rivaled George H. W. Bush in presidential preference polls. In an exclusive interview about the economic challenges before us, the retired 84-year-old displayed his gift for plain speaking.
The free lunch is over "We're drowning in debt, but our public servants are always talking about a free lunch. Nobody's asked us to do anything but enjoy life. But think of it, just in November, 500,000 unemployed. It's a critical time in this country."
Detroit can be savedâ€"just like before "The Loan Guarantee Act of 1979 was tough. It was extreme oversight. And it was sacrifice at every level. While we were getting a loan of $1.2 billion, our employees, dealers, and suppliers conceded $2.5 billion. Without them, we would have died.
"I remember our tire supplier was Goodyearâ€"Chuck Pilliod, the CEO. At one point we hadn't paid them for six months. I said, 'How do you keep your board shipping us tires?' He said, 'If it doesn't work, you'll be talking to a new CEO. I'll be fired.' So you've got to get everybody working together. That's what we need today."
Workers hold the key "If there are no concessions made this time, we won't correct the problem. Our costs are too high. If you say, 'Blame it on the union,' well, the unions served a great purpose. They helped build the middle class. But we can't afford $50 to $75 an hour to build a car. To build anything, really."
Health care costs are killing us "We save maybe 15, 20 percent by building a car in Canada because the Canadian government's paying that 15 percent for workers' health insurance. The United States has the most expensive health care in the world, and we don't have the best record, whether it's infant mortality or whatever. We're just not there with the rest of the world. How long can we tolerate that?"
Let's use the nuclear option "I want an electrical grid that you can plug your car into. And I would start looking at nuclear power again. We smashed the atom first. What happened? We turned nuclear energy over to the lawyers. The rest of the world turned it over to the engineers."
Cheap gasoline is like a curse "The damn thing is drifting back to a dollar and a half. I say, ' Yikes! Don't tell me we're going to go joy riding again!' You've got to have a solid plan for fuel-efficient cars and stay with it if you want to see results."
Four years isn't much time "All that Barack Obama can do is get the house in order and take two or three priorities and go with them. If I were president, I'd tackle jobs, health care, and education. Take care of the young people. On math scores we're at number 32 in the world. That bodes ill for the future."
Thirty years ago Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca engineered a controversial government bailout of the world's third-largest automaker. Chrysler paid back its loan in three years, and Iacocca became a business icon who, by 1985, rivaled George H. W. Bush in presidential preference polls. In an exclusive interview about the economic challenges before us, the retired 84-year-old displayed his gift for plain speaking.
The free lunch is over "We're drowning in debt, but our public servants are always talking about a free lunch. Nobody's asked us to do anything but enjoy life. But think of it, just in November, 500,000 unemployed. It's a critical time in this country."
Detroit can be savedâ€"just like before "The Loan Guarantee Act of 1979 was tough. It was extreme oversight. And it was sacrifice at every level. While we were getting a loan of $1.2 billion, our employees, dealers, and suppliers conceded $2.5 billion. Without them, we would have died.
"I remember our tire supplier was Goodyearâ€"Chuck Pilliod, the CEO. At one point we hadn't paid them for six months. I said, 'How do you keep your board shipping us tires?' He said, 'If it doesn't work, you'll be talking to a new CEO. I'll be fired.' So you've got to get everybody working together. That's what we need today."
Workers hold the key "If there are no concessions made this time, we won't correct the problem. Our costs are too high. If you say, 'Blame it on the union,' well, the unions served a great purpose. They helped build the middle class. But we can't afford $50 to $75 an hour to build a car. To build anything, really."
Health care costs are killing us "We save maybe 15, 20 percent by building a car in Canada because the Canadian government's paying that 15 percent for workers' health insurance. The United States has the most expensive health care in the world, and we don't have the best record, whether it's infant mortality or whatever. We're just not there with the rest of the world. How long can we tolerate that?"
Let's use the nuclear option "I want an electrical grid that you can plug your car into. And I would start looking at nuclear power again. We smashed the atom first. What happened? We turned nuclear energy over to the lawyers. The rest of the world turned it over to the engineers."
Cheap gasoline is like a curse "The damn thing is drifting back to a dollar and a half. I say, ' Yikes! Don't tell me we're going to go joy riding again!' You've got to have a solid plan for fuel-efficient cars and stay with it if you want to see results."
Four years isn't much time "All that Barack Obama can do is get the house in order and take two or three priorities and go with them. If I were president, I'd tackle jobs, health care, and education. Take care of the young people. On math scores we're at number 32 in the world. That bodes ill for the future."
uke:
