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Bob "Moan n' Groan" Nardelli may be offering Automotive News dire warnings about the future of the auto industry, but I'll bet he's safely strapped into a golden parachute should things go amiss.

The Chrysler CEO, after all, is the amusing character who got a $210 million severance package from Home Depot after that company gave him the traveling scholarship less than two years ago.

Following that triumph - is it possible to spend $210 million in one lifetime? - privately-owned Chrysler brought him on.

"Nardelli warns of industry collapse" reads the headline of a short piece on the cover of this week's Automotive News.

Nardelli apparently "fears the collapse of an 'extremely fragile' auto industry amid the credit crisis and Wall Street meltdown."

"You start to see the global collapse of the auto industry where strong, dominant international players are really feeling it in their home market," he told the industry newsletter. "We thought the $4-a-gallon gas was going to be our biggest challenge, but that's been minimized by the credit market."

Nardelli also whinged about the auto industry facing "unique federal regulatory burdens, such as increased fuel economy requirements."

I'm sorry, but that kind of "Can't-Do" attitude is opposite to everything that is wonderful about this nation.

And when you combine it with the "What's-In-It-For-Me" kind of severance package he got after being fired from Home Depot, you really don't have to wonder why the auto industry, Wall Street and the whole world economy are in such a mess.

- Peter C.T. Elsworth

 Tags  Auto industry Chrysler Commentary

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