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138 Comments
- Lucas123, on 03/30/2009, -11/+49This is what blows my mind. This CEO has been in charge for 8 years and in that time, GM has done nothing but go downhill, yet he keeps his job throughout. Go figure why American automakers continue to tank.
- GhostInAShell, on 03/30/2009, -9/+44He's just being made into the scapegoat, honestly. GM has been going downhill since far before his time (see 1980's).
During that time, the crucial tipping point of the auto industry, Honda and Toyota entered the market like whirlwinds impressing all consumers with reliability and low cost. When compared to the low reliability and higher costs of American cars, the free market gave it's verdict. - ChuckDees, on 03/31/2009, -8/+42How come no bank CEO's have been asked to leave?
- malanic, on 03/30/2009, -9/+40Anyone has a right to call the shots if they're offering enough money to keep a company afloat. It's called protecting your investment.
If GM doesn't like it, they should look for some bailout money with no strings attached. Good luck with that one. - WordsnCollision, on 03/30/2009, -4/+33How much was his bonus?
- funkedup, on 03/30/2009, -3/+32When Europe is saying that we're spending too much, you know we're in trouble.
- DemiRonin, on 03/30/2009, -9/+30The stockholders must be like... man we were so stupid we had to have the president fire our CEO
- BoneStamp, on 03/30/2009, -21/+38Even in countries that we would consider "socialist", the government doesn't get involved like this. So, this isn't socialism, but I'm not sure what to call it -- other than *****.
- shark72, on 03/31/2009, -1/+17If he's been on the job for close to a decade and wasn't able to turn things around, he wasn't a scapegoat -- he was part of the problem.
I'm sure he had a tough job ahead of him, and I'm sure that for each of those years he held the post, he was doing his absolute best to turn things around. But, he failed.
This is not the definition of a scapegoat. - ousthouse, on 03/31/2009, -2/+17The government may own GM, but the banks own the government.
- funkedup, on 03/30/2009, -1/+12No. The 20 million is part of his retirement package which is safe from the government, providing that they don't make a change in policy.
- Fixhotep, on 03/31/2009, -1/+11Um, sounds logical to me. Yes, he inherited crap. But it was his job to turn it into sunshine. Instead, he made *****. Boot him and start over. NEXT!
- TheSwashbuckler, on 03/31/2009, -3/+12Sorry, but the UAW DID NOT bankrupt GM. GM bankrupted GM.
The deal that the UAW had with GM is not substantially different from the one with Ford, and Ford is fine. The difference is that GM management sucked, while Ford's didn't. - 3szoom, on 03/31/2009, -7/+16This is not socialism FFS! This is the largest single shareholder making an executive decision. Educate yourselves on this issue:
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/wp-content/upload ...
and explain to me why the ***** this guy wasn't fired years ago. If it is the duty of the shareholders to hold the CEO accountable, who holds the board accountable when the CEO and the board are colluding? - kalvinb, on 03/31/2009, -7/+16And this is why you don't accept money from the government. It's bad enough when politicians use political positions as kickback for favors. Now the government is going to try to meddle in private sector jobs as well.
It's all fun and games until Obama starts bribing his way into more and more private businesses.
If Obama can borrow billions of American taxpayers dollars to get a company to fire someone, pretty soon he may discover that with just a few billion more he can get his friends some fancy new gigs. All he had to offer until now were government jobs.
That Ford CEO doesn't seem to be doing so well either, maybe he could help them out with another $25 billion and all they have to do is let Michelle Obama take over as CEO. - exploringfox, on 03/31/2009, -4/+13So our government is now giving out business plans... anyone else a little apprehensive at the idea of a government dictating business decisions? Key word—dictating.
- jsc07302, on 03/31/2009, -1/+9No. Now the government will. Because it's the single largest shareholder. Because that's what socialism is.
- 3szoom, on 03/31/2009, -1/+9They have: Freddie Mac, Faniie Mae and AIG (I know not a true bank but close enough)
- lordmike, on 03/31/2009, -1/+9Yep, private banks do that all the time when they make loans to shaky companies... It's not unusual. also, the U.S. owns 35% of Chrysler now from what I understand...
- swizzcheez, on 03/31/2009, -0/+8@DemiRonin:
"The stockholders must be like... man we were so stupid we had to have the president fire our CEO"
The president didn't fire him. He resigned when the company could no longer get additional bailout funds with him still in power. If the president actually fired the CEO of GM that would probably be an impeachable violation of the 4th Ammendment.
However, I find the threat of a "structured bankruptcy" very disquieting. It has the feel of the terms of the contracts shifting (surprise, surprise). If I were on the board of directors of either of those companies (or Ford for that matter -- who wants to have to compete against the government itself) I would surely start looking for an exit strategy that lets me keep at least SOME of my investment since my voting rights are about to evaporate.
IMHO, let the company live or go bankrupt naturally (better yet, don't bailout to begin with in the fall).
Edit: Sorry Trekhawk, grabbed the wrong cut-n-paste originally. - Omek, on 03/30/2009, -2/+10That's what I was thinking. I'm sure he probably got a huge severance package. Of course, that's the issue that everyone will overlook.
- TheSwashbuckler, on 03/31/2009, -4/+12LOL!
Not even close. The head of the UAW's job is to get the best deal for his workers. The head of GM's job is to get the best deal for GM. The head of GM failed in a huge way. - ousthouse, on 03/31/2009, -2/+10This is why I buy cars from freedom loving capitalists... the Koreans.
- solid12345, on 03/31/2009, -14/+22When will the president of the United Auto Workers step down as well, they are 50/50 to blame on this mess too. You can tell this was an anti-business decision by a Democratic president.
- NotAChickenHawk, on 03/31/2009, -0/+7Amen! Let me also point out, no one forced GM to take a deal from UAW. They could have held out for a better deal. They accepted it, its far too late to come crying about it now.
- solid12345, on 03/31/2009, -3/+10I fail to see how bankrupting your own employer with outrageous benefit and retirement package demands succeeds in getting the best deal for the workers in the long run.
- b1sh0p, on 03/31/2009, -7/+14Of the three options Barrack had (give them more money, don't give them more money, or give them more money with guarantees that the money will be used more wisely) I think he made the right choice.
- SkittlesUSA, on 03/31/2009, -2/+8And for the first time in US history a president has fired the CEO of a private company.
- schwagman, on 03/30/2009, -2/+820 million
- hokie47, on 03/31/2009, -2/+8This is ***** crazy. I must admit I was for the bail out. I wanted to protect our jobs and my 401k. The goal was noble but it is going to fail. Let the ***** burn. It is what it is and in the end there is nothing we can do about. I wish I supported Ron Paul now. I am sorry. I should have know better. I am not upset that the CEO is gone, but that our government can tell someone like this to leave.
- TheSwashbuckler, on 03/31/2009, -2/+8So, we should just continue to put money into a failed company and leave the people that caused the failure in control?
Sorry, no private investor providing so much money to a troubled company would do that and neither should the the public investor, aka the U.S. government. - nazzareno, on 03/31/2009, -2/+8Simple. They have better lobbyists.
- inactive, on 03/31/2009, -0/+6Except the Gov't has no business being in banking.
- phishneslo, on 03/31/2009, -1/+7there are lots of comments about how certain persons' actions over the past few years are the cause of all our economic problems...
1) the artificial standards imposed by washington politicians (half of whom don't own cars, and the other half are driven around in limos) dictating what car makers should produce without regard to what people want to buy (CAFE standards, etc.) is a large part of why where are at where we are.
2) the success of automakers like toyota are attributable to their amazing implementation of Demming's (look it up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming ) ideas on systemic quality control and production efficiency. while American companies laughed at the ideas in the 50s and because they were profitable thought they didn't need them, the japanese people thought him a genius and based their entire production models on his ideas, and almost regarded him as a celebrity.
3) if the lagging costs and bureaucracy of automakers is the root of our problems, how will the government (who pays $15k for toilet seats), an even huger bureaucracy than the UAW streamline this?
I cant wait until capitalism returns to America. - DevilInPgh, on 03/31/2009, -0/+5Just wait. Citi may be next.
- lebruf, on 03/31/2009, -4/+9I bet he's going to feel really ripped off when his severance package comes in at less than $50 Million.
- oksure, on 03/31/2009, -2/+7We should let the company fail, preempting this whole debate in the first place.
- kevinmoore, on 06/13/2009, -1/+6> This wasn't supposed to happen! I'm in shock! And so is the rest of the upper midwest.
Oh, *****. I live in Ohio and work for one of GM's largest suppliers. I'm not in shock and don't think this will destroy GM. - numb, on 03/31/2009, -0/+5When they can't compete because their inferior competition is subsidized by the government, then the government can bail out/buy them too. I don't understand why so many people fail to understand how this a bad thing.
- kalvinb, on 03/31/2009, -0/+5There are banks that tried to refuse to take government bailout money and they were threatened by the government. It wasn't an option. The banks had to take the money.
Obama is making offers that companies can't refuse. - numb, on 03/31/2009, -0/+4Ford didn't take the taxpayers' money. But now that their competition is going to get subsidized, it will be a lot harder for them to compete without getting some of the money too. How do you compete when your competition can be inferior and still stay ahead of you because the taxpayers are funding their losses?
- inactive, on 03/31/2009, -4/+8I like how easy it is for Obama to make "loans" like this then dictate business decisions. He's got no skin in it, he just prints up some funny-money and *poof*! He can "bail out" any or all businesses.
In this case it's not the "Golden Rule" - the man with the gold makes the rules. In this case it's the man with a printing press spewing out more and more worthless scrip. - Digg32539, on 03/31/2009, -0/+4Who is John Galt?
- inactive, on 03/31/2009, -2/+5lordmike The "ordinary worker's" sompensation has been the death of GM, making 3 times the compensation and benefits of what the foreign competition is making.
- jayselle, on 03/31/2009, -2/+5The board of directions should be held accountable for their incompetence and fraud against share holders for not cleaning house years ago.
- inactive, on 03/31/2009, -5/+8"Obamunism"
- GroundhogBoy, on 03/31/2009, -0/+3So wary that they sent the #2 guy at GM in to replace him Wagoner getting canned did nothing to help GM, especially if the White House is expecting them to go BK in a month. It was purely a symbolic move, which is the definition of scapegoating.
- GroundhogBoy, on 03/31/2009, -1/+4They will. Why do you think BoA was taken out behind the woodshed today, doubling the % losses of most of the other banks. Ken Lewis has a target on his back.
The only reason Vikram's still around is that he's relatively new and can't really be blamed for heading the ship into the iceberg. The problem is that the ship may be too big to steer in time to avoid collision. And it won't matter who's manning the wheel. - rrife, on 03/31/2009, -1/+4Yes, now that he is gone I'm sure we'll all run to our local GM dealership and buy a new car, which is the real problem.
- sgerwel1985, on 03/31/2009, -0/+3I will agree with you to some extent, but some problems can take a REALLY LONG time to fix. Example, if Obama can't turn things around, are you willing to say the same thing about Obama? Assuming he gets a 2nd term.
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