You remember Bob Nardelli right? He's the guy who ran Home Depot so poorly they gave him $200M just to leave. Then we went to Cerberus Capital, a company that mistakenly thought it could buy Chrysler on the cheap and then just, you know, turn things around. No problem right?
Well, after teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, the government determined that Chrysler didn't have a chance under Cerberus and stepped in to broker a deal with Fiat.
Now, in an interview with the Detroit News, Nardelli swears Chrysler would be better off if he were still running the show. "If the government gave us the deal they gave Fiat, we'd be doing just fine — really," Nardelli told The Detroit News.
Yes, really! Sure Bob, and that god awful Prowler you own, or at least pretended to own when you were CEO, is going to go up in value someday too. Really.
For more of his utterly ridiculous musings, see the full story in the Detroit News.
wjtinatl says:
10:01 AM, 10/ 3/11
Ha! I lived in Atlanta for 20 years, watched the rise of Home Depot under it's founders and then it's rapid spiral downward after Nardelli took over and gutted the company of it's service and customer focus. I could not believe Cerberus named him to run Chrysler, but the result was the same. Jack Welch knew he was toxic and passed on him to run GE when Welch retired. I cannot see Nardelli running a lemonade stand, let alone a company the size of Chrysler or Home Depot. Officially Insane iwould seem to be a very accurate description.
moparbad says:
10:08 AM, 10/ 3/11
I disagree with you 100% on the Prowler.
greenpony says:
10:24 AM, 10/ 3/11
I liked the Prowler. Too bad it didn't live long enough to have a Hemi jammed in there at the factory.
steve_ says:
11:14 AM, 10/ 3/11
Amazing, I went to the link and didn't even see a blurb for Nardelli's new book. Must still be trying to sell the draft to an agent. Why else would anyone be giving ink to this guy though?
lostboyz says:
11:48 AM, 10/ 3/11
The prowler wasn't a great car but it is far from a bad car. I mean look at it, what other car looks anything like that?
inlinesix says:
12:25 PM, 10/ 3/11
Sounds like some other stupid a$$ executives.
Having to pay a poor business leader to exit a contract is just stupid. There should be a clause in all executives contracts that says: if the company files bankruptcy; if you fire 500+ employees; and if the government has to step in etc... you dont get a bonus and you dont get paid to leave the contract early.
Another example of what not to do:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/17/eveningnews/main4612647.shtml
rickity says:
01:27 PM, 10/ 3/11
I agree with Moparbad 100% - concerning the Prowler, you are 100% wrong, concerning Chrysler with Nardelli and Cerebus at the wheel, you are 100% right.
blackdynamite1 says:
02:00 PM, 10/ 3/11
He sounds just as capable of management as Dubya ever was!
WAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!
Nobody trusts me because I'm incompetent
WAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!
BD
wasaabi92 says:
03:17 PM, 10/ 3/11
That Prowler comment was hilarious!
Personally, I've always wanted a gold, V6, automatic "hot rod."
The people that still drive those things around are so misinformed.. They weren't cool 10 years ago, and they're just plain pathetic today.
firstwagon says:
05:44 PM, 10/ 3/11
+1 greenpony
The Prowler was a cool car with some really clever engineering and a style no other company would have had the balls to do. It's only flaw was the V6/ auto drivetrain.
They stopped building it just as the right engine became available. If I owned one I would find a way to swap in a hemi.
bodyblue says:
05:47 PM, 10/ 3/11
"He sounds just as capable of management as Dubya ever was!"
GAG.....Do you live in the same country as I do? The one that has been run into the ground by The Bamster and his pointy headed college professors that have never made a freaking buck or held a REAL job in the REAL world?
New rule for USA: If you never have had a job in private industry then you cant run for President.
wrinklebump says:
09:34 PM, 10/ 3/11
warren g. harding, arguably the worst president in the history of the united states, was a successful businessman, having been the publisher of a popular newspaper abraham lincoln, arguably the best president in the history of the united states, was an unsuccessful businessman (but a successful lawyer).
most of our good presidents were lawyers or military officers (or both) before becoming politicians (dwight d. eisenhower). as have most of our bad ones (ulysses s. grant).
bodyblue says:
07:33 AM, 10/ 4/11
I would take a man who had the guts to try to make it in the real world over some policy wonk or even worse a "community organizer". If one does not understand private business then one is not qualified to be President. The small businessman is the one that creates the most jobs in this economy..the ones with guts enough to try something new or different. When a President does not understand this basic part of how our economy works the result is what we have now. An economy that staggers from recession to recession because of government interference. Housing market is a great example. The Bamster wont let it bottom out. We keep throwing money at people that cant afford their house. The market has to bottom before it rises again....it is simple Capitalism, but when you and your advisors are at heart wanting to change our economy to a European style one, we get what we have. Failure.
mercedesfan says:
09:44 AM, 10/ 4/11
@bodyblue,
I disagree. The country hasn't been run into the ground by the Obama administration or even the Bush administration. The country has been run into the ground by unchecked greed that has led people to live outside their means and businesses to value profit over the worth of their employees. We have gotten to a point in our society where there is very little government can actually do. The best that we can hope from them right now is to soften the blow when things collapse which they are arguably doing as best they can.
You can claim a hands off approach is what we need, but it won't fix the basic issue. Capitalism does not function if there is greed. The whole philosophy falls apart because it is contingent on spending everything that is taken in (thus trickle-down economics). That isn't how things work in this country. We need a major societal shift and a return to post-depression values where helping out your neighbor and valuing individuals means more than getting a mcmansion.
The first step in that is to stop pointing fingers and to start working together. It's what made the USA great in the first place and can again, but people have to be willing to accept other opinions as valid. Right now we are too polarized to even do that.
bimmerjay says:
09:16 PM, 10/ 4/11
Well said mercedesfan. What a refreshing alternate viewpoint.
wrinklebump says:
11:01 PM, 10/ 4/11
mercedesfan,
spoken like a true ... frenchman!?? no, really -- french leaders, today's and yesterdays, have always been committed to a capitalism that maintains social and economic equity. you could've taken the words out of de gaulle's mouth.
it's called social democracy. the u.s. - or at least parts of it - used to resemble one. now, it's more or less a plutocracy, with profit the primary motivating influence behind the decisions of oligarchs.