You Don't Have to be a Weather Man...but maybe you do..

As I remember it, the catch phrase of the Weatherman Underground was '' you don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing".

However in the case of Fortune 100 Executives, maybe they could use a thermometer (rectal I am sure) for evaluating their companies and their performance. Here are a few key questions that one might use in determining the qualifications of some Fortune 100 execs:

1. How smart do you have to be when you show up to beg for money, to not show up in a Corporate Jet? Isn't the fact that this happened, an indictment of these Execs?
2. How long can you expect the corporation to pay your multi-million $ salary while the stock holders lose money every year?
3. Why do you wait until even the UAW offers concenssions on its contract to even evaluate your cost of doing business?
4. Who's calling the shots anyway - do you need the United States Congress - a body of Lawyers to tell you to sell the corporate jets/cut costs/and get meaningful products on the market?

As we all know, these guys are asleep at the switch, and it is not just GM CEO, Rick Wagner. This is a common US corporate problem. It is the exact reason why Toyota, Hyundai, Sony, and others have run circles around US corporations for years. The leadership of many of these U.S. corporations are "LAME", and they have extremely weak boards. These "alleged" board leaders need to:

1. Remove the execs.

2. Resign.

Most of them have demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are only self interested and incompetent.

Car companies aside, if you look at North American Paper Companies it is intersting to see that how on one day that a major analyst anounces that the demand for paper is down by over 15% and a few days later, that two paper company execs announce that they will close a couple of mills and reduce production. How smart do you have to be, to make these rear view mirror decisions? Just wait till the market watchers tell you how to run your business. Further, why would any stockholder pay you a multi-million dollar annual salary for this type of rear-view mirror mangement?

I expect it will only be days, before the International Paper Company announces the sale of their 3 jets and hanger facility at the Memphis Airport. But more than likely, we will wait until some "Stock Analyst Wank" tells us to. Who's running the company anyhow?

Like I said, you don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing. On the otherhand .... if you are a Fortune 100 exec - a weatherman could be helpful. Hope the weather changes....

All the best,

mike