Posted on 12/20/2008 12:25:20 PM PST by Publius
Comment from Jim Sinclair:
Every word is truth. Where is the outrage?
Remember Lee Iacocca, the VP at Ford credited with the birth of the Mustang, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from their death throes, and the owner of the famous quote "Lead, follow, or get out of the way"? Well, he’s back! He has a new book, and here are some excerpts.
Lee Iacocca writes:
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 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. George Bush, Dick Cheney and who is this bozo coming up next? One of the most liberal idiots in the US Senate, and he is talking about disarming America. I can’t believe the American people aren’t seeing what he is about to do to this country. May God have mercy on us all.
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 edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are all moving offshore. We’re getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are the worst in the world. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership and we are getting ready to put the most liberal senator in the US Senate in as our next president because we want to be fair and elect someone just because of his race? We don’t have time to be fair, we need a strong leader.
But when you look around, you’ve got to ask: "Where have all the leaders 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 hope 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. Well guess what, people? We are having more floods right now. What are we doing to help these people out? Now, that’s just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you’re going to do the next time. Why are we allowing people to build in flood plains anyway? If you build in a flood area, expect to be flooded and deal with it. Don’t expect the Government to bail you out.
Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. All they seem to be thinking nowadays is getting themselves bigger salaries and bonuses. 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? Likely nothing!
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 and the Senate. 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? I honestly don’t think any of you have one!
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 1970's 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.
that you do not know what he is talking about gives credendance to his claims..Try and focus
Well Lee, I will agree with you on ONE point: Where’s the OUTRAGE? Right.
But don’t besmirch my boy or his buddies that have been fighting this friggin’ war since basically ‘02 or if we meet, you’ll d****d sure feel my wrath. Matter of fact, those men and women have done an outstanding job, we can’t help the mentality of some shoe-throwing A-rab who needed to be capped for assaulting the USA. Early on when the ROE was more realistic, he would’ve been and good riddance.
But that’s the way it’s been, you live in your cushy world of whore-de-dors and we live in our world where our sons (and now daughters) bleed for their country, literally while being insulted, back-stabbed and betrayed by the likes of your kind. But, it’s always been that way, I’m proud I’m part of the unwashed, I love my brothers and sisters of the unwashed dearly, they’re real. They make this country work, well, they did, now we are about to reap the whirlwind it looks like.
But Lee, go away okay? Leave us alone, don’t know where you were at the beginning of this abominable bailout, now you must feel safe to say something brave but you don’t hold a candle to our men ane women serving—THAT’S brave, go back to your whore-de-dors Lee...
What about the bozos who ran the big three into the ground? Can’t blame it all on the uniions. Management was more interested in quarterly results and never planned ahead.
Lee Iacocca was the man who did the Mustang. He rose to power after Henry Ford II learned that Iacocca who was the factory rep for Pennsylvania, had arranged with PA Banks to loan money for a ford at 100 dollars down and 100 dollars a month. PA was the only state that year where Ford out sold GM. Henry promoted Lee to sales manager.
After his success at creating the Mustang Lee was trying to get rid of Henry Ford II so he could take over Ford. He is stupid, very ambitious and ungreatful man.
Every year at Christmas the Ford Family got together at Ford II’s home to discuss the future plans for Ford Motor.
Lee Iacocca got close to a young member of the Ford clan and had him wear a mike and trasmitters so Iacocca could hear what was being said.
What Iacocca did not know is that Henry II has a device that could detect transmitters running in his home. It gave an alert, Ford II found the kid wearing the mike and went out to confront Iacocca.
The next day Iacocca was fired from Ford. Henry II told Lee that he needed to learn to read. The name on the heaquarters building was FORD not Iacocca. Iacocca was out the door.
In contract after contract after contract the UAW would start negotiating with the weakest car company. They would threaten to strike if they did not get what they wanted. During the Iacocca years at Chrysler they always went after Lee and Lee gave in to the UAW time in and time out.
Then the UAW would demand that GM and Ford Give them what they had gotten from Chrysler.
If Lee wants to know who gave the UAW most of its outrageous benefits... he should try looking in the mirror.
Stopped reading right there.
For what it’s worth, according to http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/thomaspain120704.html it’s a Thomas Paine quote.
This American thinks the message is mostly right on.
This is a book excerpt from April 2007, “Where Have All the Leaders Gone?” by Lee Iacocca. It is not really a new book and Lord knows what Iacocca is thinking these days.
I have said again and again on this site.....
THERE IS NO REASON TO DO ANYTHING PRO CONSERVATIVE UNTILL ELECTION FRAUD IS FIXED.
I regret voting for Bush in 2004. The only good thing he did was Foreign Policy, but he sold out our economy, let us see in a few years if he covertly sold out our foreign policy.
bump for later read
oKAY WE ARE OUTRAGED.
But I don’t need Lee to tell me my IRA tankeed cause of the subprimes. And again, HIS TIMES were not what it is now.
He ran a car company. Not a country...not even a state...he never had to deal with legislators and stupid public “citizenry”. he ran one f,,,g company. and he couldn’t even do that without a govt loan. so I don’t need a lecture from him.
Outrage, ??? that’ll get you 50cents and a cup of coffee.
Run a government and then tell me your great ideas.
I AM mad, very mad. but I don’t need to hear ‘outrage ‘ from the “expert of government” who never ran a govt institution.
Lee is outraged. Big whoop. So what else don’t we know Lee?
“THERE IS NO WAY FOR THE SYSTEM TO FIX ITSELF AT THIS POINT”
Systems don’t fix themselves, people fix systems. If we don’t forget about every other issue, at this point in history, but the survival of the Constitution we will the victims of our own stupidity.
We have been played by the left like Perlman plays a Stradivarius, elegantly.
"Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way," was my Air Force Basic Training Squadron Motto - The 3401st Training Squadron at Lackland.
Every other Squadron had "fluffy" sounding mottoes; "Developing Excellence," "Tomorrows Leaders Today," but not my Squadron.
The quickest way to recovery is let to the system collapse. The Washingtonian bozos won’t get out of the way and will be steam rolled by the market. The collapse will be on their watch. No use in wasting outrage on a doomed elitist pipe dream.
With a Gov't bailout...
With federal loan guarantees, not a direct government bailout. As I recall, the loans were paid off early.
Great editorial from Lee Iacocca.
” solving the energy crisis”
There isn’t any such thing, except what the Democrats create.
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