"The Quagmire Ahead" by David Brooks, The NY Times, June 2, 2009
"On Jan. 21, 1988, a General Motors executive named Elmer Johnson wrote a brave and prophetic memo. It's main point was contained in this sentence: We have vastly underestimated how deeply ingrained are the organizational and cultural rigidities that hamper our ability to execute.
"GM's core problem is its corporate and workplace culture--the unquantifiable but essential attitudes, mind-sets and relationship patterns that are passed down, year after year." (Sounds very similar to most academic institutions these days, too.)
Thursday, June 04, 2009
GM Owner's Manual
GM Owner's Manual--Editorial Page, NY DAILY NEWS, June 4, 2009
"Mr. President, congratulations on your brand new company! Enjoy the new car smell!
To get started, sit in the driver's seat. Place key in ignition. Open the door. Step away from the vehicle. Run. Run for dear life.
Find an authorized professional. Only an authorized professional can drive this vehicle without risk of severe injury."
"Mr. President, congratulations on your brand new company! Enjoy the new car smell!
To get started, sit in the driver's seat. Place key in ignition. Open the door. Step away from the vehicle. Run. Run for dear life.
Find an authorized professional. Only an authorized professional can drive this vehicle without risk of severe injury."
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Saving Detroit?
Time Magazine, June 8, 2009
"In other words, for all the number-crunching and all the brute financial haircuts involved in these bankruptcies (at GM and Chrysler), at the heart they are animated by the audacity of hope. . . . And these hopes float on the audacity of deficit spending. . .the public price tag will
exceed $100 billion.
"When Obama drafted Rattner and another financier, Ron Bloom, to lead his auto task force, he instructed them to 'treat these transactions in a commercial manner.' That is to say, restructure the companies in a way that makes good commercial sense. The "commercial" mantra proved fleeting. The first imperative of commerce--to add value and thus earn profits--is too narrow to host all the civic expectations attached to the auto industry. If GM's only task were to make money, the company would shutter its car factories (or move them to low-cost countries) and churn out light trucks.
"But, that's not possible at a time when Obama and congressional leaders are requiring Detroit to do more to advance conservation and alternative energy and create 5 million new jobs."
GM Facts:
US Market Share: 1962--51%; 2009--23%
US Employees: 1962-- 464,000 ; 2009-- 92,000
US Vehicle Sales : 1962-- 4.2 million; 2009-- 2.98 million
Revenues (2009 d0llars) : 1962--$105 billion; 2009-- $149 billion
Profits: 1962-- $1.46 billion
Losses: 2009-- $30.9 billion
The numbers say it all!!
"In other words, for all the number-crunching and all the brute financial haircuts involved in these bankruptcies (at GM and Chrysler), at the heart they are animated by the audacity of hope. . . . And these hopes float on the audacity of deficit spending. . .the public price tag will
exceed $100 billion.
"When Obama drafted Rattner and another financier, Ron Bloom, to lead his auto task force, he instructed them to 'treat these transactions in a commercial manner.' That is to say, restructure the companies in a way that makes good commercial sense. The "commercial" mantra proved fleeting. The first imperative of commerce--to add value and thus earn profits--is too narrow to host all the civic expectations attached to the auto industry. If GM's only task were to make money, the company would shutter its car factories (or move them to low-cost countries) and churn out light trucks.
"But, that's not possible at a time when Obama and congressional leaders are requiring Detroit to do more to advance conservation and alternative energy and create 5 million new jobs."
GM Facts:
US Market Share: 1962--51%; 2009--23%
US Employees: 1962-- 464,000 ; 2009-- 92,000
US Vehicle Sales : 1962-- 4.2 million; 2009-- 2.98 million
Revenues (2009 d0llars) : 1962--$105 billion; 2009-- $149 billion
Profits: 1962-- $1.46 billion
Losses: 2009-- $30.9 billion
The numbers say it all!!
"The End of the University as We Know It"
The New York Times, Op-Ed page, April 27, 2009
"Graduate education is the Detroit of higher education. Most graduate programs in American universities produce a product for which there is no market (candidates for teaching positions that do not exist) and develop skills for which there is diminishing demand (research in subfields within subfields and publication in journals read by no one other than a few like-minded colleagues), all at a rapidly rising cost (sometimes well over $100,000 in student loans).
"The dirty secret of higher education is that without underpaid graduate students (and adjunct faculty) to help with teaching, universities could not conduct research or even instruct their growing undergraduate programs. . . .It is simply cheaper to provide graduate students with modest stipends and adjuncts with as little as $5,000 a course (maybe at Harvard, but the average is really about $3,000 a course)--with no benefits--than it is to hire full-time professors. (And, the administrators are laughing all the way to the bank!)
"If American higher education is to thrive in the 21st century, colleges and universities. like Wall Street and Detroit, must be rigorously regulated and completely restructured."
--by Mark C. Taylor, chairman of the Religion Department
Columbia University
"Graduate education is the Detroit of higher education. Most graduate programs in American universities produce a product for which there is no market (candidates for teaching positions that do not exist) and develop skills for which there is diminishing demand (research in subfields within subfields and publication in journals read by no one other than a few like-minded colleagues), all at a rapidly rising cost (sometimes well over $100,000 in student loans).
"The dirty secret of higher education is that without underpaid graduate students (and adjunct faculty) to help with teaching, universities could not conduct research or even instruct their growing undergraduate programs. . . .It is simply cheaper to provide graduate students with modest stipends and adjuncts with as little as $5,000 a course (maybe at Harvard, but the average is really about $3,000 a course)--with no benefits--than it is to hire full-time professors. (And, the administrators are laughing all the way to the bank!)
"If American higher education is to thrive in the 21st century, colleges and universities. like Wall Street and Detroit, must be rigorously regulated and completely restructured."
--by Mark C. Taylor, chairman of the Religion Department
Columbia University
"Want Peace of Mind? Spend Prudently"
According to a column written by Ben Stein with this headline on May 5, 2009:
"I have seen immense changes in this country in the last 40 years . . . .But, I thought, there are some constants. Man's nature is a constant. Man is fearful, avaricious, cunning, shifty, and untrustworthy in many cases, and many of those men wind up on Wall Street. But man is also hardworking, daring, committed to innovation, and eagerly willing to help his fellow man--and one or two of those people wind up on Wall Street, too.
"However, the main reason I felt so worked up about being on Wall Street where I was 40 years ago (in a law firm) is because all those years have passed, so much of my life is over, and relatively little remains. And I have spent so much of my life worrying about money that it makes me want to weep. I didn't have to do it. . . . and this has largely to do with an immensely bad habit I have: I like to spend extravagantly. I scare myself with my extravagance."
"I have seen immense changes in this country in the last 40 years . . . .But, I thought, there are some constants. Man's nature is a constant. Man is fearful, avaricious, cunning, shifty, and untrustworthy in many cases, and many of those men wind up on Wall Street. But man is also hardworking, daring, committed to innovation, and eagerly willing to help his fellow man--and one or two of those people wind up on Wall Street, too.
"However, the main reason I felt so worked up about being on Wall Street where I was 40 years ago (in a law firm) is because all those years have passed, so much of my life is over, and relatively little remains. And I have spent so much of my life worrying about money that it makes me want to weep. I didn't have to do it. . . . and this has largely to do with an immensely bad habit I have: I like to spend extravagantly. I scare myself with my extravagance."
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