Originally Posted By: Johnny
If, it had been a loan like was made to Chrysler back when Lee was in charge, and paid back over a period of time, I have no problem with it.
And Iacocca paid it back early, and the Gov't made a huge profit to boot. And all the same arguments were made against it in '80 that are being made now. If we followed those arguments in '80, Chrysler would have been dead by '81. Unfortunately, we don't have an Iacocca at the helm this time to convince the upside. And GM's situation is many times worse in magnitude than Chrysler's was in '80.
Iacocca was certainly no saint. The Pinto tends to tarnish him a little. But one thing about Iacocca is that he was a very creative car guy, and came up with novel vehicles that people wanted to buy. Perhaps not the K car (which he inherited) and its 100 iterations, but the minivan and the pony car were brilliant concepts. The minivan is what turned Chrysler in the '80s. We need that creativity now, and I just don't see it happening in Detroit at other than FoMoCo.
Originally Posted By: Johnny
It would be like you going to a bank to make a loan for your house and the bank telling you what color to paint it and what kind of furniture to put in it. Oh, and you have to cut the grass with the electric mower we tell you to buy.
Not quite. When you take out a home loan, the lender typically requires that you carry certain insurance coverages and demands arrangements to insure that the taxes get paid. On new construction, they expect the building to meet code and will withhold draws if it is not. It's a matter of degree as to what is required to protect the lender's interest. They generally don't micromanage. Hopefully, the Gov't won't either. They can learn from the Iacocca experience, too, by staying out of the way.