GM – Government Motors … President Obama Asserts Unprecedented Government control over Auto Industry

Will there be a backlash to the Obama power grab …

GM – Government Motors

GM and Chrysler get ultimatum from Barack Obama. Is it a President’s job, let alone his authority, to dictate business policy to a corporation? Did America elect a President or a dictator? Is this the change you bargained for? In an unprecedented move, the Obama administration forced the departure of Rick Wagoner as CEO of General Motors over the weekend, and implicit in Obama’s remarks was that the government holds the ability to pull the plug on that company or Chrysler. As stated earlier, sound a bit more like mob extortion that the US Government.

President Obama asserted unprecedented government control over the auto industry Monday, rejecting turnaround plans from General Motors and Chrysler and raising the prospect of controlled bankruptcy for either ailing auto giant.

Car Czar and Chief

Eager to reassure consumers, Obama also announced the federal government would immediately begin backing the warranties that new car buyers receive _ a step designed to signal that it is safe to purchase U.S.-made autos and trucks despite the distress of the industry.

Let this be a lesson to all companies that dare think of taking bailout money from this administration. Not only are their strings attached, they will own you.

Bankruptcy Leads Possible Plans for GM, Chrysler

Now the President is for bankruptcy? He was not for bankruptcy in the past now, was he. Isn’t that what many of us said that should have occurred before you gave them billions? Interestingly enough, AIG was too big to fail and banks were given trillions. Suddenly, Obama is singing a different tune to the auto industry and the union workers that he wooed during the 2008 Presidential election.

Union auto worker backlash against Barack Obama as workers say Obama treated autos worse than Wall Street.

“It’s the age-old Wall Street vs. Main Street smackdown again,” said Brian Fredline, president of UAW Local 602 at a plant near Lansing. “You have all kinds of funding available to banks that are apparently too big to fail, but they’re also too big to be responsible.”

“But when it comes to auto manufacturing and middle-class jobs and people that don’t matter on Wall Street, there are certainly different standards that we have to meet — higher standards — than the financials. That is a double standard that exists and it’s unfair,” Fredline said.

Many workers — not generally known for their affection toward executives — even sympathized with Rick Wagoner, who was forced to step down as chief executive of General Motors Corp. He was by turns called a “sacrificial lamb,” “scapegoat” and “fall guy.”

Let this be a lesson to all who bought into “change you can believe in”. Are you still believing?

UPDATE I: What’s Good for the Goose is Good for the Gander … Why Didn’t Union Heads lose Their’s?

If Obama wanted change and a fresh start for GM, why were not all the “usual suspects” shown the door? Why is union leader Gettlefenagler allowed to keep his job? If Obama was consistent in his message, would not have that been the right call? After all, if you are going to interfere and play human resources with an industry, you might as well go all the way.

With GM’s Wagoner Ousted, Should Union Head Have Met the Same Fate?
Even though UAW President Ron Gettelfinger argues that his workers have made significant concessions in recent years, analysts say the offerings were too little, too late. 

In forcing the resignation of General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner, President Obama said he was seeking a fresh start, a “new vision and new direction,” for the beleaguered automaker.

But some critics are questioning why the president of the United Auto Workers union didn’t meet the same fate, to signal a fresh start on the other side of the bargaining table.