Money / Rick Wagoner Big 3 Would Agree to Oversight if Bailed Out CEOs admit bad management By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff Posted Dec 4, 2008 1:07 PM CST Copied From left, GM CEO Richard Wagoner, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger, Ford CEO Alan Mulally, and Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli, listen to testimony on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Detroit’s Big Three automakers would accept federal oversight in return for financial support, the Wall Street Journal reports. The chiefs of GM, Ford, and Chrysler all said that they would accept a bailout styled after that of Chrysler in the late ‘70s, which put the firm under the supervision of a federal agency. The CEOs admitted they’d come to last month’s congressional hearings unprepared, and presented detailed plans for using the government’s money to make their companies profitable again. They also admitted mistakes in their management: "It's no secret that GM has struggled in the face of increased competition from foreign manufacturers with lower wage, health care and benefit costs," Rick Wagoner told the committee. (More Rick Wagoner stories.) Report an error