#Fahrvergnügen, meet #BlueBell

With Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn officially stepping down, I think there's parallels between his company and the American ice cream maker.

Per the link, and per my blogging about Blue Bell, as here, too rapid of expansion is what likely led to corner-cutting at both places.

(More here on Volkswagen's being driven by Ed Abbey's "theology of the cancer cell," growth for growth's sake.)

And, it should be a warning to we the consumer not to buy stuff from such companies.

There's another parallel of sorts. Volkswagen is public, Blue Bell private. But, both Winterkorn and Kevin Kruse seem to be very sharp at board politics. Per the behavioral economics tag, boardrooms, it would seem, aren't very rational.

And, some slogans?

"Listeria: It puts the 'l' in 'Blue Bell.'"

"Fahrvergnügen: It's German for 'cheating pleasure.'"

That's especially true now that we learn, as I heard on the radio this morning, that renowned German auto parts maker Bosch reportedly warned VW back in 2007 not to try cheating EPA tests. Shades of Blue Bell, indeed.

And, yes, just like Blue Bell listeria helped kill a few people, so did VW smog.