The Beat Beat Goes On

I can't help but wonder what it is like to be the PR manager at GM in these days. I mean if you are at GM corporate it must have been brutal for the past several weeks seeing the writing on the wall and knowing the company was going down in flames. If you were in one of the product lines, you have to have been going crazy seeing how badly GM was planning it's future and developing more big, gas guzzling cars when the market taste was shifting towards more fuel efficient models. Yes GM has filed for bankruptcy and its not quite the end of the world, that's now happening in December 2012 if you're wondering. This will be a painful progress and sadly a number of good people will be hurt by it but sadly it is necessary in this case to cut off the infection to save the patient. My only hope is that we don't see the incompetent managers who lead GM into this position leave with bundles of golden parachutes.

One possible good outcome of this mess is that it could end the second gilded age in America and the idea of the CEO as a god. CEO's are grossly overpaid and in many respects are paid regardless of whether they succeed or fail. Also, their short term, quarter-to-quarter view handcuffs them into pleasing Wall Street and not in pleasing their customers. Last time I checked, Wall Street bought zero for product yet most CEO's behave as if that is the market they most need to appeal to. If you want to see an example of one company doing the right thing look at Amazon. They are among a growing list of companies who refuse to provide guidance to Wall Street and "manage" earnings. Not surprisingly, they tend to be more successful and often have stronger earnings and be more in tune with their own markets.

Well the Red Sox didn't play last night which was a good thing because it was a good night for TV watching. Personally, I think CBS has the best hour of TV between 8 and 9 PM on Monday's with the Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother. The guy who plays Sheldon on Big Bang is one of the funniest characters on TV today and should receive an Emmy nod though I doubt he will. I mean how many years did Friends get those automatic Emmy nod's and it basically sucked. I think the funniest episode of Friends would qualify as a lame episode of How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang. I also watched the first season of Barney Miller on DVD. Barney was one of the best TV shows ever and is still extremely funny to watch even today!

I think it's a shame about the Air France jet but I am not buying the theory of a lighting strike bringing down the plane. What I don't get is that this model of Air Bus is equipped with both satellite and Doppler Radar and if the weather was so bad, why didn't the crew just fly around? The black boxes will keep beeping for 90 days so I hope they find them because I think that's the only way this mystery will be solved.