Lee Iacocca could make a good president...

[PatrickB]

Lee Iacocca could make a good president...
But I believe he's too smart to run!

Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from it's
death throes? He has a new book and here are some excerpts.
__________________________________________________ ___________

Lee Iacocca Says: "Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening?
Where the hell is our outrage?
We should be screaming bloody murder.
We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of
state right over a cliff,
we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind,
and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car.
But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say,
"Stay the course"
Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned "Titanic".
I'll give you a sound bite: "Throw all the bums out!" You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have.
But someone has to speak up.
I hardly recognize this country anymore.
The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs.
While we're fiddling in Iraq,
the Middle East is burning and
nobody seems to know what to do.
And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead
of asking hard questions.
That's not the promise of the "America" my
parents and yours traveled across the ocean for.
I've had enough. How about you?
I'll go a step further.
You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have.
The Biggest "C"
is Crisis !
Leaders are made, not born.
Leadership is forged in times of crisis.
It's easy to sit there
with your feet up on the desk and talk theory.
Or send someone else's kids off to war
when you've never seen a battlefield yourself.
It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.
On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history.
We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A Hell of a Mess.
So here's where we stand.
We're immersed in a bloody war with
no plan for winning and no plan for leaving.
We're running the biggest deficit
in the history of the country.
We're losing the manufacturing edgeto Asia,
while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs.
Gas prices are skyrocketing,
and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble.
Our borders are like sieves.
The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.
But when you look around, you've got to ask:
"Where have all the leader s gone?"
Where are the curious, creative communicators?
Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and
common sense?
I may be a sucker for alliteration,
but I think you get the point.
Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo?
We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to
do is react to things that have already happened.
Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina.
Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made
in the crucial hours after the storm.
Everyone's hunkering down,
fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again.
Now, that's just crazy.
Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan.
Figure out what you're going to do the
next time.
Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge
in manufacturing.
Who would have believed
that there could ever be a time when
"The Big Three" referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important,
what are we going to do about it?
Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt,
or solving the energy crisis,
or managing the health care problem.
The silence is deafening.
But these are the crises that are eating away at
our country and milking the middle class dry.
I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing
and remain silent
while our democracy is being hijacked
and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity.
What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name?
Give me a break.
Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?
Had Enough?
Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice
of gloom and doom here.
I'm trying to light a fire.
I'm speaking out because I have hope.
I believe in America.
In my lifetime I've had the privilege
of living through some of America's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises: the
"Great Depression", "World War II", the "Korean War", the "Kennedy Assassination", the "Vietnam War", the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles
of recent years culminating with 9/11.
If I've learned one thing, it's this:
"You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action.
Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book.
It's a call to "Action" for people who,
like me, believe in America.
It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap and go to work.
Let's tell 'em all we've had "enough."
Excerpted from "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?". Copyright (c) 2007 by
Lee Iacocca. All rights reserved

[MRM]

Is this a re-post from 1986 or so when Lee was last considering a run? He doesn't write his own books. The guy who wrote the first one, the autobigraphy, later became the highest paid ghost writer in history. He got $50,000 or so for the autobiography. He was the head of Chrysler. By my standards he has a lot to account for. He is a master at repackaging what's in the parts bin, but he and people like him are what has been wrong with the US auto industry for a long time.

[Carrman]

Yeah, isn't he really more of a salesman, juggler and panhandler?

[Normy]

John DeLorean would make a good President too. Unfortunately, he's dead, kind of like the brain of the current occupant~

N

[stomachmonkey]

Thought Lee was dead?

[MRM]

Complaining that no one is restoring America's competetive edge in manufacturing is rich coming from him. Exactly how far did his R&D department get in improving reliability and gas mileage? He did invent the extended warranty because no one would buy his cars without one. So he's got that inovation to his credit.

[Dueller]

Hmmmm....maybe a run in 2012? When he's 88. If elected he would leave office at 96.

[SLO-BOB]

The same Iacocca that spearheaded the developement of the "exploding Pintos"? No thanks! Who knows what else the guy would do to save 5 bucks!

Patrick - I promise I am not on a hate campaign against you.

[MRM]

One of my econ profs used him to explain cost/benefit analysis. He called him "Let 'em burn Lee". I'm sure it's old news here, but Ford did a study and estimated the costs settling the expected lawsuits versus the cost to fit the gas tanks with the proper part to prevent fires. It cost less to litigate so Lee said "Let 'em burn". Or words to that effect.

[PatrickB]

Originally Posted by SLO-BOB

The same Iacocca that spearheaded the developement of the "exploding Pintos"? No thanks! Who knows what else the guy would do to save 5 bucks!

Patrick - I promise I am not on a hate campaign against you.

That's OK Bob!

I didn't necessarily suggest that Lee run for president, I just like what he had to say from a motivational point of view in our time of apathy... We on this board are quite opinionated, and that's why I enjoy perusing through and occasionally rendering my own comment. However, the majority of people just don't care. I felt that Lee summed it up quite nicely! That's all...

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by MRM

One of my econ profs used him to explain cost/benefit analysis. He called him "Let 'em burn Lee". I'm sure it's old news here, but Ford did a study and estimated the costs settling the expected lawsuits versus the cost to fit the gas tanks with the proper part to prevent fires. It cost less to litigate so Lee said "Let 'em burn". Or words to that effect.

- That's right -- it was about $11 per person.

The original poster mentioned death throes. Think about the death throes of the victims - many of them children - as they burned.

Grimshaw v. Ford Motor Co., 119 Cal. App. 3d 757 (4th Dist. 1981) is the major case on this.

[hytem]

Helluva speech--whoever wrote it. "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it any more."
You could win on that slogan.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by hytem

Helluva speech--whoever wrote it. "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it any more."
You could win on that slogan.

He would have my vote.

[SLO-BOB]

Originally Posted by RWebb

- That's right -- it was about $11 per person.

The original poster mentioned death throes. Think about the death throes of the victims - many of them children - as they burned.

Grimshaw v. Ford Motor Co., 119 Cal. App. 3d 757 (4th Dist. 1981) is the major case on this.

Actually $11 was the initial estimated cost. It turns out that they figured out a cheaper way to solve the problem - a $5 plastic piece that covered the bolts preventing the gas tank from being punctured. Turns out that was too much money also.

Twenty seven people died. Not sure how many were maimed or injured. Imo, anyone who had a hand in that, including Iococca, is guilty of murder and should have been tried as such.

[tchanson]

Tim

[Rikao4]

Crazy,
just look at all those Minivans transporting Mom tubs,and angry husbands.
While he didn't invent the 'minivan' his co. **** thousands of those things.
Prez. nah..turn him into speedbump, a better choice..
Rika