President Obama, who holds the world's most powerful office, announced today that General Motors and Chrysler have not done enough to earn more government support. Rick Wagoner, GM's CEO, had already resigned under pressure from the Obama administration. The president held out the threat of bankruptcy if the corporations don't come up with plans the administration approves. Obama wants Chrysler to merge with Fiat, the Italian automaker (apparently on the theory that it will work out so much better than Chrysler's merger with Daimler Benz), and he wants GM to do ... something different.
Wall Street was so thrilled with the president's business expertise that the Dow dropped more than 300 points within a couple of hours. GM and Chrysler have made some dumb, short-sighted decisions in the past 40 years (back when the U.S. Justice Department was threatening to sue GM for anti-trust violations because it controlled over half the U.S. new-car market), but I'm not convinced that the president and his advisers know more about car manufacturing and marketing than the folks who've spent their adult lives working on cars.
Taxpayers have poured a ton of money into the automakers already, but it seems to be the height of hubris for administration officials, with all of two months on the job, to think they know more than GM and Chrysler officials. And if the president can tell GM to replace its CEO, what's to stop him from replacing the CEO of Bank of America or Microsoft? It looks like we're gathering speed on a slippery slope.
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ReplyDelete....the beginning of the end of the free enterprise system for the USA. We are now moving deeper and deeper into the socialist state. Have fun people.....you put the dude in. ?anyone got your check yet?
Some people have this damn if he does, damn if he doesn't attitude over the Obama policies. Sad. If McCain and Caribou Barbie won, their solution to this mess would be what? Debtor's prison? They had NO solutions. At least with Obama, there are ideas, there is progress.
ReplyDeleteBut I guess some peoples' longing for the good ole' days of a political Oligarchy and war for profit, survival of the fittest, torture, corporate dictatorship, ExxonMobil literally writing energy policy, Katrina aftermath fiascos, 4 dollar a gallon gas, the wilful continuance of 50+ million with no healthcare, wiretapping and a "let them eat cake" attitude towards the average American is to be expected.
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ReplyDelete....can you buy me a house?