William J. Holstein

About this blog:

I believe that the most important thing Americans have to do is secure their economic well-being in an increasingly challenging, complex world. All the arguments about culture (school prayer, the flag, etc.) are fine for other Americans to have—and they are a healthy sign of democracy. But they are beside the point.

What I have written about all these years is the process of creating wealth, not for any one individual, but for the United States as a whole. Ever since I was a young correspondent witnessing the emergence of China, just after the country opened in 1979, I've held the opinion that we have to get more serious about increasing the wealth of the U.S.

That means focusing not only on how our corporations are run (governance), but also on innovation and productivity/competitiveness. Despite the predicament in which we find ourselves today (and I think we face a tough five-year economic restructuring, not a mild recession), I retain faith in the resiliency of the U.S. economy and the enterprise of American people. If Americans have the right facts, and focus on the task at hand, we can once again get serious about creating wealth, not just playing funny money games.

So come with me on this journey as I explore the complicated issues involved in maintaining the economic health of the U.S

Wal-Mart is Now The Hero
July 16--In "Managing the Media (Don't Let the Media Manage You)," I spent a fair amount of time analyzing the terrible public relations and communications challenge that Wal-Mart faced. At the time, the company was on the receiving end of a very powerful blast of ...
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Political Interference in GM-Take Three
July 16--As things have unfolded, there is a fight over what GM will do with its Opel subsidiary, headquartered in Germany. The German government wants GM to sell it to a Canadian-based group called Magna International. GM seems tob e preferring a Brussels-based ...
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Steve Rattner Leaves The Auto Task Force--The Mystery of It All
July 14--I have to give Steve Rattner more credit than I have in the past for how he engineered quick bankruptcies for General Motors and Chrysler, but something is rotten about his sudden departure after only six months. Here are the obvious questions: --The ...
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GM: Could It All Come Out Roses?
July 10--I've been a skeptic of the Obama administration's decision to fire Rick Wagoner as CEO of General Motors and to push the company into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. But GM's emergence from bankruptcy today is a very positive development. It may just be ...
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GM’s Effort to Emerge From Bankruptcy
July 7--It's been 36 days since General Motors declared bankruptcy and now a judge has ruled that the company can, in fact, split itself into a "good GM" that emerges from Chapter 11 Section 363 and a "bad GM" that remains mired in legal proceedings for years. ...
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Lo and Behold: GM Bankruptcy--Take Two
June 26--It turns out that Steve Rattner and Obama's automotive task force are learning a thing or two about their ability to muscle the various interested parties in General Motors' bankruptcy. Here's the latest from today's Wall Street Journal: "The U.S. ...
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How Nuts Is The U.S. Government’s Latest Auto-Related Action?
June 24--It's all well and good that the U.S. Energy Department, at long last, has started dispensing money from the $25 billion loan program intended to accelerate development of more fuel-efficient vehicles. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced $8 billion in ...
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Indian CEOs in Hot Demand
June 21--One of the most-read items I ever wrote was for the Corner Office column on BNET analyzing why Indian executives are in such hot demand to become CEO's of American corporations. Now we discover that MasterCard has tapped Ajay Banga to become president and ...
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Lo and Behold: GM’s Bankruptcy Is Going to Take Longer than Expected
June 20, 2009--Digest the implications of these two paragraphs from an AP story in today's New York Times: "A group of General Motors bondholders and some of the automaker's labor unions filed objections on Friday to GM's plan to sell its assets to a new ...
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Political Interference in GM--Take Two
June 18--It seems that the polticial class, as exemplified by NPR, is waking up to the implications of political interference in General Motors: Government Stake In GM Creates Complications by Frank Langfitt The government now has a 60 percent stake in General ...
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Something Doesn’t Make Sense About P&G
June 17--I'm puzzled about the decision to move Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley into the role of board chairman and to hand his CEO responsibilities to Bob McDonald. The first issue is age. Lafley, whom I've interviewed on two occasions, is now 61 and is very ...
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Who’s Making Money from GM’s Bankruptcy
June 16--This little item from today's Wall Street Journal, summarized below, explains how the bankruptcy lawyer lobby started cleaning up even BEFORE General Motors declared bankruptcy: The prebankruptcy restructuring of General Motors Corp. has proven ...
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Political Interference in Auto Industry--Take One
June 13--This is precisely what is NOT supposed to happen--leaders of General Motors and Chrysler have been obliged to go to Washington to explain to Congress why they need to close so many dealerships. The dealers have exercised control over the networks that ...
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Four Reasons Ed Whitacre is Wrong for GM Chairman
June 11, 2009--First, he is not from the manufacturing or automotive sectors and therefore does not understand the complexity of the supplier model and how cars are actually made. He's obviously a highly credible CEO, but he's from the wrong industry. Alan Mulally ...
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Who Is to Blame for GM’s Failure?
June 1, 2009. Just about everyone. Here's how I explained it on Business Week online: http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/jun2009/bw2009061_332081.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_news+%2B+analysis ...
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