Its just hard to swallow that thousands of people are being put out of work and offered "buyouts" but yet they are giving this guy 17.5 Million. Im sure its in the best interest of Ford, but I guess a giant company among other giants, have to do what they do to survive.

Hopefully some of them can be hired back.

If they didn't give it to him, they would just give it to some other executive. Laying off employees is not tied to hiring executives. They have to cut their workforce because factories are IDLE

Here'* let'* put things into perspective... if Ford sells 2.5 million cars a year and pays a CEO 17.5 million, that $7 per car that the executive get. Seven dollars.

I'll take $5/car. lol. I know what your saying. It still sux either way.

You should make them an offer

Michigan sinks farther in to the ground... :?

Thats my view totally. the Whole American car industry has been left naked with the contracts and expectations and benefits the workers were given during the great economic boom when imports were still second class. I follow it pretty closely and noticed some positive things about GM that Will stated early in this post... ( too busy getting drunk and being a village idiot when this got posted.) But GM has had their own share of layoffs, 35,000 gone or soon to go and many plant shutdowns . And the specter of how much the bailout which GM cannot avoid of Delphi still not fully known and diclosed. They are a huge multi layerd Corporation which does alot more than produce Passenger car and their end of year totals will definately be interesting. I, as a lifelong buyer and supporter of GM hope the hemmorage of the last couple years has been stopped and they can move forward. 10 Billion is no small amount , but alot of it was charge off strategy, tax ploys, restructure, and posturing for union negotiations. the Unions Must get a grip on whats happening.... or they will become a thing of the past. They still think they are invnicable even after the financial bloodbath that continues.

Being in Michigan, where unions pretty much rule everything, I can say that they are a huge factor in bringing down the big 3. They are part of the reason why American cars are so expensive compared to Japanese cars and such. It'* hard for me to argue this around people I know because they are mostly pro-Union, and will throw everything back in your face if you put them down. I'm not against unions overall, but I do think that they demand too much, which is part of the cause for charging a lot of money for these cars.

Sorry if I offend anyone, but that'* what I think. It'* not suprising that Honda or Toyota can make a car with the exact same materials as an American car and charge less.

As a business student, i agree with Sol, unions had a time and place, but there are so many labor laws now, all they do is drag down companies, industries, or maybe even countries.

GM needs to do something drastic, or this turnaround will take a long time. And yes GM is still rebadging cars, but it'* not making AS many duplicates or damn near identical clones as before. The Newest chassis (kappa) has the Sol and Sky mechanically identical for example. Thankfully Escalades are being differentiated by the engine, and not small things like the hood ornament and leather color over a Yukon.

GM has some things that are just GREAT for them, and some that are just killing them. The GTO could've been a HUGE hit with a cheap v6 option, the Solstice can't be built fast enough, but why on earth does pontiac have a minivan, why do we need 3 4 door W bodies, etc. Once they get costs under control Corporatly, and including working force, they can really go back after market share.