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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (52744)	3/30/2009 12:15:50 AM
From: koan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

Where we might disagree, is that I think a lot of these big corporation CEO's are just high class criminals who only know how to manipulate everyone and everything. Detroits group think and stringent requirements of conformity to a dishonest capitalist structure is well known to all of us on the left. "The Man in a Gray Flannel suit" and "Organization Man", were two scathing books on detroit long before Michael Moore. Why didn't GM put people's pension money aside as they earned it, instead of borrowng it so they could pay dividends and high slaries for the white collar folks and then in the end losing it? Why didn't governement make them? They owed that money to the workers. FDR had to deal with the Robber Barrons and bush's neo cons bred a new bred of Robber Barron's for 30 years. Obama has to deconstruct the criminality fo Wall Street and the military industrial complex as well. GM CEO resigns at Obama's behest By MIKE ALLEN & JOSH GERSTEIN \| 3/29/09 5:23 PM EDT Updated: 3/29/09 7:53 PM EDT Text Size: The White House confirms Wagoner is leaving at the government's behest. Photo: AP The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed, a White House official said. On Monday, President Barack Obama is to unveil his plans for the auto industry, including a response to a request for additional funds by GM and Chrysler. The plan is based on recommendations from the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry, headed by the Treasury Department. The White House confirmed Wagoner was leaving at the government's behest after The Associated Press reported his immediate departure, without giving a reason. General Motors issued a vague statement Sunday night that did not officially confirm Wagoner's departure. "We are anticipating an announcement soon from the Administration regarding the restructuring of the U.S. auto industry. We continue to work closely with members of the Task Force and it would not be appropriate for us to speculate on the content of any announcement," the company said. The surprise announcement about the classically iconic American corporation is perhaps the most vivid sign yet of the tectonic change in the relationship between business and government in this era of subsidies and bailouts. Wagoner has been CEO for 8 years and at GM for more than 30. It is not yet clear who would replace him, or what role the administration would play in that process. Industry sources had said the White House planned very tough medicine in Monday's announcement, which turned out to be an understatement. And it went to the very top. The measures to be imposed by the government will have a dramatic effect on workers, unions, suppliers, bondholders, shareholders, retirees and the communities where plants are located, the sources said. GM and Chrysler first requested billions in federal aid in November, warning that they could run out of cash in a matter of months if they didn't receive it. In December, President Bush agreed to loan $9.4 billion to GM and $4 billion to Chrysler. See Also Obama to bankers: 'Help me help you' Obama: More troops not enough VIDEO: Geithner: End booms, busts Last month, GM asked for $16.6 billion more and Chrysler requested an additional $5 billion. Earlier this month, Obama agreed to loan $5 billion to American auto parts manufacturers to help them weather the steep drop in new vehicle orders and the financial uncertainty at the Big Three. Obama and his aides may have honed in on Wagoner for two reasons. First, his company is asking for the most in total federal aid: $26 billion, a figure administration officials fear could grow even larger. Second, the GM chief was tied more directly to the ill-fated decisions that that brought much of the American auto industry to the brink of collapse. Wagoner joined GM in 1977, has had a senior role in GM management since 1992, and became CEO of the company in 2000. He is considered responsible for increasing GM's focus on trucks and SUVs—at the expense of the hybrids and fuel efficient cars that have become more popular in the last couple of years. 1 \| 2 \| Next Page >>