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    Who are the NERD fund donors Mr Snyder?

    Raise the curtain.

    Obama Sacrifices Wagoner to "Look Tough"


    By RightMacomb, Section News
    Posted on Sun Mar 29, 2009 at 05:53:30 PM EST
    Tags: CNBC, Rick Wagoner, GM (all tags)

    CNBC is reporting that as a part of further aid that is needed for GM, the Obama administration is pretty much requiring Rick Wagoner to step down as the head of the automaker.  The current President and Vice-Chairman would probably be the one take over.

    First, I see this as another Washington powerplay to beat up on the automakers for the problems caused by the failed policies in Washington.  Once again, a Detroit CEO has to do a "perp" walk for the cameras, while Wall Street bankers get photo ops with the President this past Friday.

    Now, I know that there is a disagreement in this forum as to whether any aid or further aid should be given to GM and Chrysler.  However, I believe we can agree that Detroit companies are being treated differently than Wall Street companies.

    I don't recall all of these publicly demanded changes to AIG, despite the fact that the government owns 80% of them.  I don's see where AIG is being required to publish their balance sheets and their 5 year forecasts for their business like GM and Chrysler have to do.  

    I don't see where CitiGroup has published all of their data, despite that the government is covering over $300 billion of their debt.  I haven't seen the administration calling for their CEO to take a walk to get the aid.

    Then, we have Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (or, Fannie Mac and Freddie Mae, I can never keep them straight).  So far, every person that had to do with their demise not only walk away with millions of dollars in cash, but they also got government jobs and government pensions with the Obama Administration.  Heck, Obama Chief of Staff Emanuel walked away with $300,000 for just serving a short time on their Board.

    Unfortunately, GM is losing a good man who does not deserve to go out like this.  I would like to know any other CEO who could have managed this economic environment without government help.  In less than a year, the auto market dropped over 40%.  Even Toyota is losing money and cutting back.  GM has been making major cut backs over the years, thanks to Wagoner.  He managed to sell off Hughes Electronics and DirectTV.  He sold off 51% of GMAC at the best possible time for GM.  He was one of the major players that spun-off Delphi.  He negotiated the major agreement with the UAW in 2007 that would have removed hourly retiree health care from GM's books by 2012.

    Wagoner accomplished everything he believe he needed to do, provided we had a normal automotive market.  But, thanks to the greed of Wall Street and the short-sightedness of the types of Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Timothy Gietner and Henry Paulson, the economy tanked and so did GM.  But, Frank, Dodd, and Geitner still have their jobs.  They are the ones who deserve the "perp" walk, not Wagoner.

    < Great Speech . . . Wish It Were In Congress | Obama Shutting Detroit Down >


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    Yeah. (none / 0) (#1)
    by thejmfc on Mon Mar 30, 2009 at 02:03:43 AM EST
    I agree.  From where I sit, Rick Wagoner did a fairly good job.  GM cars and trucks are finally coming out with quality, performance, and styling which compare favorably with the imports.  GM has dealt firmly with the UAW as of the past few years.  Seems that things were going in the right direction under Rick's reign.  

    Of course, in hindsight GM should have put more engineers on their small car lineup.  Nobody knew that fuel costs would soar though, killing demand for the SUV's and light trucks that GM had perfected over the years, and was tooled up to produce.  A company of that size, saddled with a belligerent union like the UAW, can't just turn on a dime.  Combine that rough scenario with a severe economic downturn, and you've got a "perfect storm" situation that I doubt any GM CEO could have pulled out of much better than Rick did.  

    But hey, he flew on a corporate jet to Washington.  I guess that makes him the ideal scapegoat.  

    I hate government (none / 0) (#3)
    by quigonjames on Mon Mar 30, 2009 at 04:17:11 PM EST
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20090330/pl_bloomberg/arw6keyfqteg

    My favorite part...

    "We cannot and must not, and we will not let our auto industry simply vanish," the president said at the White House, announcing new and final deadlines for the No. 1 and No. 3 U.S. automakers to remake themselves. "We cannot continue to excuse poor decisions. We cannot make the survival of our auto industry dependent on an unending flow of taxpayer dollars."

    Too bad he doesn't replace 'auto industry' with 'banking industry'. Probably costs too much to reprogram the teleprompters.

    Fiat and GM... (none / 0) (#5)
    by RightMacomb on Mon Mar 30, 2009 at 07:14:48 PM EST
    A few years back, GM had a powertrain partnership with Fiat.  GM paid to be in partnership with their European operations.  After several years of no returns, GM paid to get out of the partnership.

    Isn't kinda of bad that the Obama Administration solution for Chrysler is to taken over by a company that another company paid to not have to deal with again?

    Interesting theory... (none / 0) (#8)
    by thejmfc on Wed Apr 01, 2009 at 02:34:14 AM EST
    I read somewhere today (sorry, don't recall where) that the whole situation with Rick Wagoner is mainly designed to serve as a distraction from the fact that Obama isn't really making any progress.

    The opinion didn't expand on "progress", but I thought it was interesting enough to share.  I suppose it makes sense; things aren't going your way, so before the bored reporters start to notice, throw a CEO under the bus.  Good distraction from real issues, and it plays well with the angry, anti-CEO masses.

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