The Little Company That Just Might

Although it’s not yet a done deal, all signs are pointing toward Chrysler which as recently as a week ago was having space prepped for it in the business obituary column emerging from its dire straits still breathing albeit not getting money for nothing.  If it all comes together, the company should hire Gomer Pyle to do its next ad.  He’d be a natural given how the reaction of most everyone is “well goll-oll-ee surprise surprise surprise.”

One of the key elements to the deal, again assuming everything holds together, is the hitherto novel concept of forcing Chrysler’s labor force to actually behave in a manner indicating they are responsible for generating the corporate income that puts the numbers on their paychecks.  Under the proposed agreement with the UAW, it will hold a fifty-five percent stake in the company.

We’ve all heard the phrase “drive it like you stole it.”  Its counterpart is “work it like you own it.”  When someone is fully aware they have a personal interest in their employers overall performance, mailing it in is no longer an option.  Also, never underestimate the power of peer pressure.  When one slacks and everyone suffers as a result, said slacker is cut none.

All of this would have amused my father to no end.  He was a car guy and a Chrysler man through and through.  That is, until he bought a 1980 Plymouth Horizon that was such a lemon the only thing he wanted to do was see it disappear over the horizon.  Eventually he gave up and bought a Toyota.  Yet even after that, he still waxed nostalgic about the Dodges and Plymouths he had driven and worked on over the years.  Never did own a Chrysler, though.  Too pricey.  Besides, there were five of us rugrats rampaging about.  Station wagons were pretty much mandatory transportation.

What he would have found especially enjoyable would be if GM fails to reach a similar agreement with the UAW and as a result is forced into bankruptcy.  Dad would have rather crawled through a minefield laced with barbed wire than drive, or so much as ride in, a GM car.  It should be noted that Dad riding in a car was almost never an option.  He was an accomplished road pilot, and unless he was incapacitated he would do the driving.  Period.  The only person to whom he willingly relinquished the wheel?  Mrs. Dude, the frustrated NASCAR driver.  Naturally she’s never let me forget this.

Back to Chrysler, GM and all that.  As mentioned, now that the UAW will be cognizant of their place in ensuring Chrysler returns to viability it’ll be interesting in the extreme to see how the company performs as a unit.  Ownership does that to you.  It’s the ultimate level of accountability.  When you know your job is on the line, and everyone else knows their job is on the line, and everyone knows they’re dependent on everyone else as well as themselves, good things happen.  They have to.  You make it that way.  You make sure everyone else does the same.  And they do the same to you.

Now compare this to the government.  Before you start thinking “uh, wait — hello, these things called ‘elections?’”, bear in mind the overwhelming number of government jobs aren’t elected positions.  They’re appointed.  There is no accountability to the public.  None.  Lip service about it, oh you betcha.  But genuine accountability?  Yeahright.

We’ve seen what happens in private (and given the present administration’s heavy-handed involvement I use the term so loosely it rattles) enterprise when there is a disconnect from the notion of responsibility for its performance.  Namely, how the UAW has conducted itself over the past few decades, bleeding the auto manufacturers dry and viewing them as a bottomless money pit.  Certainly the corporations also bear a chunk of the blame for their present predicament, sacrificing innovation and quality for the sake of… actually, I’m not quite sure what for.  But I digress.  That said, the unions bear the brunt of responsibility for the sign asking the last person to leave Detroit if they’d be so kind as to turn off the lights.

Said all that to say this.  If private industry disintegrates when there is no sense of accountability, how can anyone expect the government, which knows precious little if any accountability, to run the affairs of private business?

The Obama administration is fervently working toward nationalizing, be it directly or de facto, the financial sector, health care, and in the case of the automotive business major industry.  Set aside the pros and cons of the present administration and think about our government as a whole.  How can we realistically expect it to run these in an efficient manner?  It can’t control its own spending.  It’s heavily in debt and growing more so by the second.  It has demonstrated zero ability to do much of anything in an efficient manner (FEMA, anyone?).  And now it’s going to run things?  R-i-g-h-t.  Smooth as silk.  What could possibly go wrong? (/sarcasm off)

At this rate, the UAW might wind up not so much cozying up to the Democrats as telling them how to do things.  Otherwise, they’ll be out of a job due to not their own greed, but government mismanagement of the company about which they now know they’re part and parcel.

That my Dad would have found the most amusing element of all.