{"id":13500,"date":"2008-11-26T21:44:00","date_gmt":"2008-11-27T04:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2008\/11\/26\/holding-auto-executives-responsible-inconceivable.html"},"modified":"2008-11-26T21:44:00","modified_gmt":"2008-11-27T04:44:00","slug":"holding_auto_executives_r","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/26\/holding_auto_executives_r.html","title":{"rendered":"Holding auto executives responsible? Inconceivable!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Talk is cheap, of course, but when’s the last time you heard a President of the United States say something like this?<\/a> <\/p>\n

\n

BARBARA WALTERS: How did you feel when you read about the three heads of the auto companies taking private planes to Washington?<\/p>\n

BARACK OBAMA: Well, I thought maybe they’re a little tone deaf to what’s happening in America right now. And this has been a chronic problem, not just for the auto industry, I mean, we’re sort of focused on them. But I think it’s been a problem for the captains of industry, generally.<\/p>\n

When people are pulling down hundred-million-dollar bonuses on Wall Street, and taking enormous risks with other people’s money, that indicates a sense that you don’t have any perspective on what’s happening to ordinary Americans. When the auto makers are getting paid far more than their counterparts at Toyota, or at Honda, and yet, they’re losing money a lot faster than Japanese auto makers are, that tells me that they’re not seeing what’s going on out there, and one of the things I hope my presidency helps to usher in is a, a return to an ethic of responsibility.<\/p>\n

That if you’re placed in a position of power, then you’ve got responsibilities to your workers. You’ve got a responsibility to your community. Your share holders. That if — there’s got to be a point where you say, ‘You know what, I have enough, and now I’m in this position of responsibility, let me make sure that I’m doing right by people, and, and acting in a way that is responsible.’ And that’s true, by the way, for members of Congress, that’s true for the president, that’s true for Cabinet members, that’s true for parents.<\/p>\n

I want all of us to start thinking a little bit more, not just about what’s good for me, but let’s start thinking about what’s good for our children, what’s good for our country. The more we do that, the better off we’re going to be.<\/p>\n

WALTERS: Should bank executives — it’s almost Christmas time — forgo their bonuses?<\/p>\n

OBAMA: I think they should. That’s an example of taking responsibility. I think that if you are already worth tens of millions of dollars, and you are having to lay off workers, the least you can do is say, “I’m willing to make some sacrifice as well, because I recognize that there are people who are a lot less well off, who are going through some pretty tough times.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

If that be Socialism, then give me a membership card. And, heck, consider this my kind of “values voting,” too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Talk is cheap, of course, but when’s the last time you heard a President of the United States say something like this?  BARBARA WALTERS: How did you feel when you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[35,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-business","category-politics-law"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13525,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/21\/running_out_of_gas.html","url_meta":{"origin":13500,"position":0},"title":"Running out of gas","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 21-Nov-08 4:13pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Not surprisingly, the Republican talking point answer seems to be: Unions (of course) Safety standards Economy standards I love the last. 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No longer is it adequate to coin something that sounds like shorthand for...","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2512,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/06\/11\/houston_we_have.html","url_meta":{"origin":13500,"position":3},"title":"Houston, We Have a Problem","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 11-Jun-02 4:15pm","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Honey? We have a problem.\" Visions of auto accidents, ruptured sewer lines, sink holes flood my brain. \"My computer just came up with an message, 'Error in explorer.exe ... Reload...","rel":"","context":"In "Hi-Tech"","block_context":{"text":"Hi-Tech","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/hi-tech"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13449,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/12\/09\/pay_us_now_or_pay_us_late.html","url_meta":{"origin":13500,"position":4},"title":"Pay us now, or pay us later","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 9-Dec-08 10:51am","format":false,"excerpt":"I reluctantly, pragmatically agree\u00a0with a bailout of the auto industry, for reasons previously discussed, but this is (bitterly) funny. 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