Comments on: Great moments in business history

By: Dr. Denny

Dr. Denny — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 15:54:58 +0000

I called the local Chrsyler-Dodge dealer from whom I bought a Jeep three years ago. I told him as long as that cretin is running Chrysler, I won’t be returning to the dealership.

By: Brian Angliss

Brian Angliss — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 13:24:17 +0000

As bad as private equity firms are, thought, they could be made to do good things. Private companies don’t have the quarterly financial pressures to maximize short-term gain at the expense of long-term investment. A version of the private equity system is one of the few things that I think might save newspapers, for example.

By: Jim Booth

Jim Booth — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 13:10:47 +0000

Given the choice you faced, Gavin, we can forgive you.

By: whythawk

whythawk — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 13:02:46 +0000

Look, I wasn’t going to mention it, but the choice was either he comes here, to South Africa, to run our economy, or he goes to Chrysler. For the sake of our country we decided to sacrifice Chrysler.

We hope you understand.

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 00:04:10 +0000

Jim,

Excellent point. I’m going to use this story as a frame for a larger piece about the dangers of letting so much of our economy be controlled by private equity firms.

By: Jim Booth

Jim Booth — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 23:31:58 +0000

You know, Martin, I looked at the story this morning and I didn’t think about Nardelli – or even Snow – except in thinking “those bastards all stick together” as Holden Caulfield observed bout the jocks in CATCHER.

What I notice is the “new American way” – that they’re taking Chrysler PRIVATE. This will allow them to rape and plunder their way through its assets – screwing long time employees and selling off its assets with no stockholders to answer to. It’s piracy, pure and simple.

Look for Chrysler to become a part of history like the REO or the Hudson in no more than 10-15 years….