Obama forces GM boss Rick Wagoner to step down

rickonker

rickonker

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http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/03/29/2009-03-29_president_obama_forces_gm_boss_rick_wago.html

Pushing out the unpopular Wagoner makes it easier for the administration to hand over more cash to the ailing auto giant, another adminsiatrtion source indicated.
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Insiders have acknowledged that Obama won't let the automakers go under for a variety of reasons, including protecting the 140,000 mostly unionized workers and their pension plan.
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Some "small government" types here might post that it's dangerous for the government to basically fire a corporate CEO...
 
They didn't force him. But really he had no choice. He came back asking for another $21.6b after the $16b they gave him.

Clearly he shouldn't be running the company.
 
I'll just say expect stock prices to drop tomorrow on the fears that the next CEO asking for money might be next (Not from AIG, though).
 
Maybe it's just me, but is it worth all this money to save 144,000 jobs? It's a lot of jobs, but it's really a drop in the bucket, not to mention the distinct possibility it will all be a waste of money.
 
[quote name='HowStern']They didn't force him. But really he had no choice. He came back asking for another $21.6b after the $16b they gave him.

Clearly he shouldn't be running the company.[/QUOTE]

The real point is that the company shouldn't be running at all, except under bankruptcy protections. I guess we'll find out soon enough that yet another $21.6 billion of our tax money will be shoveled into this black hole. What a fucking joke our government is.
 
[quote name='Friend of Sonic']Maybe it's just me, but is it worth all this money to save 144,000 jobs? It's a lot of jobs, but it's really a drop in the bucket, not to mention the distinct possibility it will all be a waste of money.[/quote]

The 144,000 jobs is only the first wave. There is another 500K in supplier jobs that will be lost if GM goes under. Given how stressed the unemployment systems are in most states, that could be the tipping point.
 
No problem at all. If a company is going to go under without government assistance then cleary the CEO wasn't doing a good job. Hell they probably should require a change in leadership of any company getting huge bailouts.

I also like that they refused another round of funding as their restructuring plans weren't sufficient and gave them 60 days to work on a new plan.

I'm generally ok with funding for companies huge companies that would go under (especially a whole industry with a lot of jobs in factories, suppliers etc. etc.) but we can't just give them money to delay their bankurptcy. They need to have clear plans to restructure and use the money to right the ship and get back to make profits--not just piss money away on business as usual which was what ran them into the ground in the first place.
 
He's leaving with no severance package but he does get a $20 million pension plan. Public crying/bitching in 3.....2.......1......
 
Well they're the only ones who can take out the entrenched oligarchy. Workers have been neutered, shareholders are impotent and the BOD isn't going to cross it's meal ticket. At this point we have to cross our fingers and hope that the cure won't ultimately be worse then the disease...
 
[quote name='camoor']Well they're the only ones who can take out the entrenched oligarchy.[/QUOTE]

Why would they take themselves out?
 
[quote name='rickonker']Why would they take themselves out?[/quote]

Obama's net worth is 7.5 mil. That's less then half of Wagoner's pension plan. As much as I am cynical of government, I realize that on a whole they are more greedy for power then money and right now they are effectively being economically held hostage by wall street.

When I say oligarchy, I'm talking about the people who really run things, the lalilulelo
 
[quote name='camoor']Obama's net worth is 7.5 mil. That's less then half of Wagoner's pension plan. As much as I am cynical of government, I realize that on a whole they are more greedy for power then money and right now they are effectively being economically held hostage by wall street.

When I say oligarchy, I'm talking about the people who really run things, the lalilulelo[/QUOTE]
Are you seriously suggesting that Obama doesn't really run things? If Wagoner is so powerful and part of the entrenched oligarchy, and Obama isn't, then why would Wagoner step down on Obama's command?

I think you were on the right track with the whole oligarchy thing before you somehow excluded the most powerful man on the planet from it.
 
[quote name='rickonker']Are you seriously suggesting that Obama doesn't really run things? If Wagoner is so powerful and part of the entrenched oligarchy, and Obama isn't, then why would Wagoner step down on Obama's command?

I think you were on the right track with the whole oligarchy thing before you somehow excluded the most powerful man on the planet from it.[/quote]

Wagoner either wanted to be fired or is a complete idiot. Either is possible.

He might be "crazy like a fox" - after all a 23 million severence package that gives you the chance to punchout in a golden parachute just before you start to do any real work and congress yanks your perks must sound mighty tempting to anyone. By getting the company to fire him, he earns way more money then if he had left on his own volition.

If he did expect to keep his job he's a bona-fida idiot. Only an idiot would go back to their financial angel twice without a restructuring plan and expect to come away with strings-free money each time. I just wish hard-working middle-class Americans could have a benefactor as forgiving as the US government and people like Wagoner were forced to go to the mafia for a loan. That would be real social justice.
 
[quote name='camoor']Wagoner either wanted to be fired or is a complete idiot. Either is possible.

He might be "crazy like a fox" - after all a 23 million severence package that gives you the chance to punchout in a golden parachute just before you start to do any real work and congress yanks your perks must sound mighty tempting to anyone. By getting the company to fire him, he earns way more money then if he had left on his own volition.

If he did expect to keep his job he's a bona-fida idiot. Only an idiot would go back to their financial angel twice without a restructuring plan and expect to come away with strings-free money each time. I just wish hard-working middle-class Americans could have a benefactor as forgiving as the US government and people like Wagoner were forced to go to the mafia for a loan. That would be real social justice.[/QUOTE]
I'm not defending Wagoner at all. I'm just saying, I don't understand how you can talk about an "entrenched oligarchy" that includes Wagoner but doesn't include the Obama administration.
 
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