Clueless CEOs from Detroit could use some horse sense

Most people know it's not smart to walk into a college financial aid office wearing a fancy piece of jewelry.

Even if it's just your grandmother's old ring with an imperfect diamond.

It's all about perception. The last thing penniless college students want to do is telegraph to a financial aid officer that they're rolling in dough.

(I speak from experience. I had a family ring but no family money when I was in school. I wore my beloved grandmother's "dinner ring" daily. But I'm pretty sure I left it in the dorm when I schlepped to financial aid, sniffing around for work-study opportunities.)

So if a dope from New Jersey, with only a high school diploma and a sentimental ring that she couldn't part with, instinctively understood that appearances matter, why do you suppose the CEOs of America's Big Three automakers don't realize that, too?

Perhaps you heard that the three swells from Detroit who blew into Washington last week don't give a damn about appearances. They arrived on corporate jets and then rushed to Capitol Hill to beg alms from American taxpayers to rescue their failing companies.

The image created by these clueless fat cats was jarring.

Apoplectic politicians were widely quoted, expressing outrage. "There's a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets fly into Washington, D.C., and people coming off them with tin cups in their hands," quipped Rep. Gary Ackerman of New York.

Another congressman asked the three affluent amigos if they'd be willing to cut their own salaries to a buck a year until the business of making cars recovered. According to news reports, only Chrysler's Robert Nardelli seemed amenable. (Lee Iacocca, almost 30 years ago, took the $1. )

Ford's Alan Mulally, who reportedly raked in about $22 million last year, responded that he was "OK where I am" and General Motors' Rick Wagoner, who made do with only around $14 million, replied that he didn't "have a position on that."

Well, I do. Take the dollar a year, Mr. Wagoner, or enjoy bankruptcy.

Another politician asked the men if they'd consider selling their jets and taking commercial flights home.

Silence.

By week's end, the automakers were reportedly chewing on plans to reduce the size of their owned or leased fleets of private jets.

That's called damage control.

This isn't only about appearances. These CEOs shouldn't shun corporate jets because they look bad. They should scrap them because they cannot continue to live like Saudi sheiks if they want to pick off the public plate.

Frankly, the absolute lack of common sense in these three automotive geniuses should be a big red flag to Congress.

Judging from what we saw last week, it's unlikely these millionaires will even pause - if they get the loot - to thank the folks who saved their custom-tailored derrieres.

Those would be the plain, hard-working Americans who will never even see the inside of a private jet.

Kerry Dougherty, (757) 446-2306, kerry.dougherty@cox.net