Matt made a very good point that the CEO's are not car guys, they are business men. These people are not put in these positions to build cars they are hired to run the business to be profitable and give return to the share holders. The amount they make is not what they pay themselves it is what the board of the company has decided the position is worth. I do agree that NO bonus should be given at any level unless the corp makes money.
The legacy cost is a bog factor that is killing the big 3 and this is from bad negotations and financial decisions over the years. I believe they did not look down the road and make provisions for this. The difference between the big 3 and the foreign car companies is they have learned from GM's mistakes and will not have people in their early 50,s collecting a retirement. The retirement in the foreign car comapnies (toyota for instance) is set up to where you are unable to draw 100% retirement until you are in your late 50,s or early 60,s (can not remember the exact age) and have so many years service. This will allow the money that will be paid out by the company to be a minimum cost to do to the long time the money was paid into that retirement and the limited amount of years collecting on the retirement.
There are a lot of reasons for the downfall and it is not going to get any better any time soon. The UAW will have to make big changes along with the upper management for them to survive. The good thing is the big 3 are offering a better line up and closing the quality gap between them and the imports.
Here is a couple videos of some things that will have to change for the companies to survive.
Video
Video
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