[Jamie40829]

Your thoughts? Wagoner has resigned! What are your thoughts?

[sike0000]

Not sure what to think. On one hand it may be a good thing as he was more or less directly responsible for GM's demise. But in reality he was given a huge task. And the Automotive business is not like every other business. It really needs someone with a knowledge of the automotive market.

He was just the sacrificial lamb, and whoever replaces him will be cut from the same cloth. I look at it as Obama needed a way to help support GM without looking like he was throwing good money after bad. Telling Rick to step down allows him to do that. Too bad they haven't done the same with all the other bailed out companies

My job is tied somewhat to GM so if I am out of a job in the next month it was probably a bad idea from my standpoint

[JGatti]

I have mixed feeling about this. Although I can't say I agree with our government sticking their nose into private business. I can't say I blame them as GM was asking for more money....again. I agree he was a scapegoat but I don't agree with saying he was part of the problem at GM. If you talk to people at GM they'll tell you he did a LOT of good things for the company.
I would like to see this roll into the banking loans. The CEO's there ARE the root of the problem with their multi million dollar bonuses taken from the taxpayers money. The very people who are suffering because of their stupidity. Heads need to roll in the banking industry. They were GIVEN, not loaned hundreds of billions of dollars and are holding onto it as if they earned it. They MUST loosen up the loan strings for homes and cars and get things moving again.

[Driller1]

It is NEVER good for the government to run business. They are also forcing the sale of Chrysler to a foreign county. How sad. Just the beginning folks.

[dagnabit9]

I don't like the idea of the federal government coming in and telling you who you can and who you can't have running the show. I don't care if people say that Wagoner drove GM into the ground - he sure didn't do it himself. Just a sad state of affairs now that Obama is in charge; it'll only get worse!

[actinic]

I said months ago that GM & Chrysler should go bankrupt but nooooo, lets continue throwing good money after bad, shall we?

They couldn't sell cars when the economy was good, what made them believe they could sell when the economy sucked? Actually, they didn't believe it. In reality this was and is a UAW bailout. Enough is enough, this country is getting frickin fed up supporting an uncompetitive business ... union and management alike!

Please go away GM & Chrysler. This country doesn't need you anymore.

[Jwo85]

Originally Posted by Driller1

It is NEVER good for the government to run business. They are also forcing the sale of Chrysler to a foreign county. How sad. Just the beginning folks.

Half the parts in the big 3 cars are from foreign countries and some of the cars are built in foreign countries so it's not really a big issue.

I'm glad to see this happen, I hope Obama is not done and he goes for the treble (Soccer term on winning Three Championship trophies in one season) and get's rid of the people in the Michigan government and the U*W.

Perhaps this is the "Hope" I kept hearing from people all around the Metro area during the elections.

[magellan]

I'm anxiously awaiting the follow up meetings that the Treasury and Obama will have with Bank of America, Citigroup, AIG and other financial institutions, to see what they've done to restructure their business practices. I mean, if we require accountability for about $30 Billion to the automakers, I would imagine we'll have 10x the accountability with almost $700 Billion doled out to banks, right? And Ken Lewis of Bank of America handing in his letter of resignation any day now. The banks are kinda the ones who started this whole thing, aren't they? I don't seem to recall widespread bad lending practices on the part of GM and Chrysler causing the collapse of the global markets.

[JGatti]

Originally Posted by dagnabit9

I don't like the idea of the federal government coming in and telling you who you can and who you can't have running the show. I don't care if people say that Wagoner drove GM into the ground - he sure didn't do it himself. Just a sad state of affairs now that Obama is in charge; it'll only get worse!

Nobody does. But one thing you have to keep in mind is this. GM cannot get any private funding anywhere. If they could though, it is common practice that the lender will put restrictions and conditions not limited to restructure but often demand management change as a condition of the loan. As the U.S government and taxpayers are the new lenders for GM, they must comply with any restriction placed upon them. If it's ok for private lenders/banks to enforce this, then it should be allowed at the federal level as well. We don't have to agree with it, but it's hard to argue when it is done all the time at the private level.

[dagnabit9]

Originally Posted by JGatti

Nobody does. But one thing you have to keep in mind is this. GM cannot get any private funding anywhere. If they could though, it is common practice that the lender will put restrictions and conditions not limited to restructure but often demand management change as a condition of the loan. As the U.S government and taxpayers are the new lenders for GM, they must comply with any restriction placed upon them. If it's ok for private lenders/banks to enforce this, then it should be allowed at the federal level as well. We don't have to agree with it, but it's hard to argue when it is done all the time at the private level.

I wouldn't mind a private business that is providing funding for GM saying who can stay and who has to go. Call me hypocritical - but the very idea of the government saying the same thing sends shivers down my spine. This whole thing smacks of socialism right down to its core.