Corporate Integrity Project

Scandals involving Enron, Tyco, Global Crossing, Boeing and WorldCom have shaken confidence in America's corporate leaders. NLPC seeks to promote integrity in corporate governance, including honesty and fair play in relationships with shareholders, employees, business partners and customers. In doing so, NLPC places special emphasis on:

  • Asserting that the social responsibility of the corporation is to defend and advance the interests of the people who own the company, the shareholders. True responsibility is fidelity to one’s own mission, not someone else’s, or someone else’s political agenda.
  • Exposing the seeking of influence on public officials by corporations, which is the inevitable result of high levels of government spending and intervention in the marketplace.
  • Combating practices that undermine the free enterprise system, including philanthropic giving to groups hostile to a free economy.
Chevy to Build Impalas, Malibus at Underutilized Volt Plant
Mark Modica
06/04/2012 - 09:08

Volt asembly lineCBC News reports that an Ontario General Motors' plant where Chevy Impalas and Equinoxes were built will be closed down, costing Canadians around 2,000 jobs. GM reportedly plans to partially move production of the Impala to its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant in Michigan. You may remember the Hamtramck site from the Chevy Volt commercial which trumpeted the building of Volts there. It now seems that low demand for the Volt has led to the plant having enough time to build other, conventionally-powered vehicles. While the Volt may have been the car GM "had to build," it appears that consumers would "prefer" them to build cars like the Impala.

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Obama's Green Jobs Don't Materialize
NLPC Staff
06/01/2012 - 13:52

NLPC Associate Fellow Paul Chesser was interviewed on Fox Business Network's Willis Report on Thursday. Here's a transcript:

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Chevy Volt May Sales Dismal - Ad Spending Ineffective
Mark Modica
06/01/2012 - 01:05

General Motors reported that Chevy Volt sales for May came in at a paltry 1,680. To put this in perspective, GM sold 29,579 Chevy Malibus during the month. The funny thing is, I do not recall seeing as many TV ads for the Malibu as I have for the Volt. While GM's ad strategy (which has seen the company discontinuing advertising on Facebook and the Super Bowl) has received much attention, auto journalists and analysts do not seem to want to question the reason why GM is spending such a disproportionate amount of money advertising a vehicle that is losing money for the company and its shareholders.

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Was GM’s Nepotistic Ad Spending More Effective than Facebook?
Mark Modica
05/29/2012 - 12:15

The Detroit Free Press reported on Friday that General Motors failed to initially disclose possible conflicts when it awarded a $600,000 contract to Mother New York, an ad agency with ties to GM's Chief Financial Officer, Dan Ammann. Ammann's wife, Pernilla Ammann, is a partner and Chief Operating Officer at the ad agency. In typical Government Motors' fashion, Ammann dubiously denies having had knowledge of the deal. Before looking at what the money purchased, let's look at the likelihood that Ammann really knew nothing.

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'Ludicrous' EPA - NASCAR Partnership
Peter Flaherty
05/25/2012 - 13:20

NLPC Associate Fellow Mark Modica appeared Wednesday on Cavuto on Fox Business Network to discuss the new "partnership" between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  and the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). Here's a transcript:

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Chevy Volt Pep Rally Masquerades as Electric Vehicle Safety Symposium
Mark Modica
05/17/2012 - 13:01

Chevy Volt chargerThe Department of Transportation and NHTSA have announced that a "technical symposium" will be held on May 18th "to discuss safety considerations for electric vehicles powered by lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries." In addition to NHTSA's presentations, the Department of Energy, automotive manufacturers and battery makers will participate. Given the bias of the participants, the symposium sounds like it is going to be less informational and more infomercial.

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Taxpayers Subsidize Forbes 'Green' Billionaires' Schemes
Paul Chesser
05/15/2012 - 11:15

Vinod Khosla

This story has been updated below.

The three top U.S. tycoons on Forbes’s “Green” billionaires list have received billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies for their clean technology companies, after they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for political campaigns and lobbying.

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Obama’s Gamble on GM Worse than JPM’s Trading Flub
Mark Modica
05/15/2012 - 11:06

When JPM Chase reported that it had lost $2 billion recently on risky derivative trades, the predictable call came from the Obama Administration to increase regulation on banks. The hypocrisy of the politically motivated proclamations becomes evident when you compare the JPM trades to Treasury's continued gamble on its taxpayer funded stake in General Motors, which has suffered an approximate $5 billion loss in value over the past year.

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Ally Financial - Another Auto Bailout Bankruptcy
Mark Modica
05/14/2012 - 10:30

The Obama Administration has become quite the expert on bankruptcy filings. The Detroit Free Press reports that the third auto bailout partaker, Ally Financial, has filed bankruptcy for its mortgage subsidiary, ResCap. The government still owns 74% of Ally, and now has an 0 for 3 record on restructuring bailed out auto-related companies outside of bankruptcy.

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Nissan Seeks Leaf Buyers from Among ‘Pragmatists'
Paul Chesser
05/11/2012 - 11:05

Nissan LeafNow that Nissan believes it has captured all the “early adopters” of its all-electric Leaf, its North American subsidiary plans to market the 73-mile-per-charge (they used to say it was 100 miles) vehicle to “pragmatists.”

These practical patrons, according to Executive Vice President Andy Palmer, will not be drawn from the limited ranks of environmental activism, but instead will consist of everyday Joes “who will see the dollars-and-sense benefits of driving one,” reports USA Today.

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