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Now we are in official fascism mode. Who is Obama to ask that a CEO step down?
promachus on March 29, 2009 at 5:39 PM
I am stunned. I shouldn’t be, but I am.
myrenovations on March 29, 2009 at 5:41 PM
Now we are in official fascism mode. Who is Obama to ask that a CEO step down?
promachus on March 29, 2009 at 5:39 PM
Beat me to it.
Benito Obamalini.
hawkdriver on March 29, 2009 at 5:41 PM
Has this happened before?
p0s3r on March 29, 2009 at 5:41 PM
I won
Mark1971 on March 29, 2009 at 5:41 PM
And so it begins..
Babino on March 29, 2009 at 5:42 PM
Obama had a lot of supporters in the business world pre-election. The good news about all this is that people are learning how dangerous it is to partner with the government. Become a political problem and you can be villified or deposed.
If Obama continues to fail, who can demand his resignation as CEO of the USA?
wildcat84 on March 29, 2009 at 5:43 PM
What about the heads of the unions? Shouldn’t some roll there too?
Chubbs65 on March 29, 2009 at 5:43 PM
Yeah, why not demand Gettlefinger’s head?
Mark1971 on March 29, 2009 at 5:44 PM
So this is kinda what it feels like when you find out the Republic and Senate are being run by a Sith….
Wineaholic on March 29, 2009 at 5:45 PM
Remember when you’d read in the papers about this stuff happening in other countries like Russia, and in South America, and think, “It’s so nice to live in America where that doesn’t happen?”
This is scary stuff. I’m a big GM guy, but if it is totally nationalized like this, I won’t buy another car from them…
Johnson on March 29, 2009 at 5:45 PM
Is Obama a Socialist? I am thoroughly insulted by such a question.
My sorry, I thought GM was a PRIVATE company. Our fascist overlords have arrived.
Lance Murdock on March 29, 2009 at 5:49 PM
Seriously, the fact that the UAW people get to stay on shows that Obama’s goal is simply the destruction of free enterprise in the United States. (the world, really)
vdocam on March 29, 2009 at 5:49 PM
I actually feel like crying.
deidre on March 29, 2009 at 5:49 PM
The government has become the Mob! What a bunch of thugs!
After Wagoner leaves the room, Obama turns to Geithner and says “leave the gun, take the cannoli.”
Johnson on March 29, 2009 at 5:53 PM
So far, we have just loaned them money, not actually bought 80% of it like AIG.
So, if we don’t own them, how can Obama justify this?
myrenovations on March 29, 2009 at 5:51 PM
It’s something like our Reichstag fire. It’s an excuse to grab huge chunks of the private sector in the name of protecting taxpayer interests.
ddrintn on March 29, 2009 at 5:53 PM
Wow… just…. wow…
Does Bambi know that he just slit his own throat as far as any cooperation from the business community on buying those toxic assets is concerned?
And I wonder how the GM Board feels about how Obama, who is not a stock holder, just usurped their power?
Pre condition for money? or Blackmail? is there really a difference?
Romeo13 on March 29, 2009 at 5:54 PM
It is such a relief to have Osama Obama’s years of engineering, design and marketing experience guiding GM! I mean, he’s such an expert, right?
Say goodbye to GM, folks. And Chrysler, too. Letting the child-president and his band of mindless, platitude-spouting buffoons give the orders will tank both companies fast, albeit not fast enough to avoid consuming billions of counterfeit dollars on the way down.
Oh, and say goodbye to Ford, too. By not begging for alms from The Messiah’s bowl, they will be denied the government-mandated competitive advantages of forced union givebacks and pennies-on-the-dollar bond settlements. No, Ford will have to do things the old-fashioned way, and as we’ve seen when Detroit had to face the government-supported, union-free plants the import manufacturers set up here, when one player gets a marked deck, the other one’s gonna lose.
Nice job, Obama and Co.
Do we have to wait until after their death-and-destruction attacks on America’s economy, safety and people are complete, or can we start impeachment proceedings against this Marxist jerk now?
Absolutely. Plus, I remember reading that the government could have bought the company outright for far less than the loans they have already received.
califcon on March 29, 2009 at 5:56 PM
This needs to be screamed from the housetops… they gave out bail-out money so they could things like this… they just needed an excuse to nationalize industries… but the RNC doesn’t have the nads to point out the truth.
Since the position of CEO at GM is now – apparently – a political patronage job, does the new CEO need to be confirmed by Congress or will he be a member of the White House staff?
Next up – getting the trains buses to run on time.
lonesomecharlie on March 29, 2009 at 5:58 PM
All together now — “Just imagine if Bush had done this.”
SheofTwoMinds on March 29, 2009 at 5:59 PM
Next up? The head of the UAW will be installed as the new CEO.
Folks, this is downright chilling. This must be stopped. Now. Not in 2010. NOW.
Key West Reader on March 29, 2009 at 5:59 PM
However, if they do so, again, I will never think of them as anything other than a majority of utter and self-destructive morons. They will be deserving of what they’re so obliviously after – a Utopian idealistic dream which will be self-inflicted serfdom.
Entelechy on March 29, 2009 at 3:57 PM
I’m a Bush supporter, but it was he that kicked this can down the road. He could have denied tarp funds and forced GM into bankruptcy.
Johnson on March 29, 2009 at 5:59 PM
The head of GM is not smart enough to know when you take money from thugs you will dance to the music. No damned wonder GM is broke. Now you have thugs on the top and the union thugs. Anyone who buys GM is nutz.
If I had any extra money to be thinking about buying a new car, I would never, never buy anything from GM simply as a matter of protest, however it will be interesting to see what “incentives” Barry “offers” his minions to help him bailout his latest disaster move.
anniekc on March 29, 2009 at 6:03 PM
This year, Wagoner has agreed to accept a salary of $1 as part of GM’s request for government help…
Wagoner, 55, received $2.1 million in salary last year, $836,000 in other compensation, and stock and options that the company valued at $11.9 million when they were granted in March 2008.
But 1 million options that had been valued at more than $7.1 million are now worthless because GM shares are trading below $2, far less than the $23.13 price at which Wagoner could exercise the options to buy GM shares. Other shares granted as part of long-term incentive programs lost most of their value.
If the consensus is that Wagoner is leading GM in the wrong direction, why wouldn’t Obama demand he has to go before giving GM another gazillion bucks? Why give more money to a guy that has massively underperformed?
SnarkVader on March 29, 2009 at 6:06 PM
“And that’s gonna mean a set of sacrifices from all parties involved — management, labor, shareholders, creditors, suppliers, dealers. Everybody’s gonna have to come to the table and say it’s important for us to take serious restructuring steps now in order to preserve a brighter future down the road.
Schieffer followed up: “But they’re not there yet.”
Obama added: “They’re not there yet.”
Kiss the ring, guys.
Who knew Obama was so smart that he knows how to run one of the largest companies in the world, but went into public service instead of making millions. What a great guy.
I’m just saying that the GOP doesn’t have a lot of moral high ground on this one…
Johnson on March 29, 2009 at 6:09 PM
If the consensus is that Wagoner is leading GM in the wrong direction, why wouldn’t Obama demand he has to go before giving GM another gazillion bucks? Why give more money to a guy that has massively underperformed?
SnarkVader on March 29, 2009 at 6:06 PM
You trust BO with spending? He already has more debt that all the other Presidents combined, but sounds as if you are OK with his decisions?
They wanted government help, they got it. Actions have consequences. I see this as a good thing in that it should deter private companies from going to the government for help.
For the first time in my adult life, I’m proud, really proud of my country.
LibTired on March 29, 2009 at 6:11 PM
Ha ha, how does this help Michelle’s children?
Johnson on March 29, 2009 at 6:12 PM
Some of the banks are already falling all over themselves wanting to pay back the “stimulus” money. Unfortunately, the “stimulus” package does not include any means of doing so.
califcon on March 29, 2009 at 6:12 PM
If the consensus is that Wagoner is leading GM in the wrong direction, why wouldn’t Obama demand he has to go before giving GM another gazillion bucks? Why give more money to a guy that has massively underperformed?
SnarkVader on March 29, 2009 at 6:06 PM
You might have a valid point if you accept the idea that the government should be bailing out GM. I don’t accept it.
Mark1971 on March 29, 2009 at 6:12 PM
You trust BO with spending?
Wade on March 29, 2009 at 6:09 PM
Get with the program Comrade! It’s not spending it’s an investment.
sarc/
Knucklehead on March 29, 2009 at 6:13 PM
Maybe Obama is pissed because GM is a big sponsor of conservative talk radio?
Candy Slice on March 29, 2009 at 5:51 PM
Well if that’s his agenda, he’s in for a rude awakening; Two reasons- Libs don’t buy American cars. They aren’t cool enough, AND, I am overly confident that Rush has sponsers waiting in line to pay him huge money to plug their products. No one has a bigger audience and has more influence than Rush- no one.
anniekc on March 29, 2009 at 6:14 PM
Barry will deny knowing he promised a big bonus..
Let me guess the President of the UAW is next?
lasertex on March 29, 2009 at 6:14 PM
I’m just saying that the GOP doesn’t have a lot of moral high ground on this one…
Johnson on March 29, 2009 at 6:09 PM
No, you said BUSH. Who controls the money? And who is and was (as this developed) in control of who controls the money? Follow the money and you will find culprits. It was not Bush or as you try to back peddle the GOP.
You trust BO with spending? He already has more debt that all the other Presidents combined, but sounds as if you are OK with his decisions?
Wade on March 29, 2009 at 6:09 PM
When Pres. Bush gave the first bailout in Dec., it came with a set of targets that the auto companies had to meet by the March 31st deadline. If GM didn’t meet them, and it’s obvious that they didn’t, shouldn’t there be penalties before they get the next round of money?
SnarkVader on March 29, 2009 at 6:15 PM
The speculation seems to be that Wagoner didn’t get enough concessions from the bond holders. Hence, his removal by BO. In the report I heard (I think it was on Fox, or a local Detroit station), BO supposedly inferred that the bond holders had better be ready to make concessions or else.
This is only part one folks.
shibumi on March 29, 2009 at 6:15 PM
We HAVE to stop this scoundrel from ruining the world economy. Time for discussion is over. Time for action is now. Time for politeness is over. Learn from the Left. We are morally free, nay morally obligated to fight Obama. Using the same techniques they used against us. The gloves are off. The mask is off. He has shown he is a fascist. Now lets stop doodling and start fighting. The future of civilization is at stake.
“The brutes, private or public, who believe that they can rule their betters by force, will learn the lesson of what happens when brute force encounters mind and force.
“If my fellow men believe that the force of the combined tonnage of their muscles is a practical means to rule me-let them learn the outcome of a contest in which there’s nothing but brute force on one side, and force ruled by a mind, on the other”–Ragnar Danneskjold(Atlas Shrugged)
It’s time to go Ragnar. Lets roll.
promachus on March 29, 2009 at 6:16 PM
Granted, I don’t think they should have been bailed out in the first place but what’s done is done.
SnarkVader on March 29, 2009 at 6:16 PM
If Obama continues to fail, who can demand his resignation as CEO of the USA?
Say, doesn’t Obama want us to give him a bunch of our tax money to recover the economy? I have a little pre-condition in mind. If the President can demand the resignation of the head of a publicly-held company for non-performance, before givng the company a bail-out, we taxpayers can demand the resignation of the President for the exact same cause!
drunyan8315 on March 29, 2009 at 6:16 PM
Get with the program Comrade! It’s not spending it’s an investment.
sarc/
Knucklehead on March 29, 2009 at 6:13 PM
Jess…. for in Socialist Amerika… Car Czar will appoint CEO for corporation!
But wait… can’t be Czar…. new post to be created… the Car Comrade!
Romeo13 on March 29, 2009 at 6:18 PM
I’m just saying that the GOP doesn’t have a lot of moral high ground on this one…
Johnson on March 29, 2009 at 6:09 PM
This isn’t about either party, unless you’re talking about the CPUSA.
thomasaur on March 29, 2009 at 6:18 PM
Granted, I don’t think they should have been bailed out in the first place but what’s done is done.
SnarkVader on March 29, 2009 at 6:16 PM
You got it. The barn doors are open, the stampede has begun, and the doors can not be closed.
President George W. Bush stepped in Friday to keep America’s auto industry afloat, announcing a $17.4 billion bailout for GM and Chrysler, with the terms of the loans requiring that the firms radically restructure and show they can become profitable soon.
“If we were to allow the free market to take its course now, it would almost certainly lead to disorderly bankruptcy,” Bush said at the White House, in remarks carried live by the national broadcast networks. “In the midst of a financial crisis and a recession, allowing the U.S. auto industry to collapse is not a responsible course of action. The question is how we can best give it a chance to succeed.”
Why give more money to a guy that has massively underperformed?
SnarkVader on March 29, 2009 at 6:06 PM
And the ones making that determination are people like Obama, Frank and Dodd. Man, libs apparently have no sense of irony.
ddrintn on March 29, 2009 at 6:21 PM
If GM didn’t meet them, and it’s obvious that they didn’t, shouldn’t there be penalties before they get the next round of money?
SnarkVader on March 29, 2009 at 6:15 PM
Penalities say you? Funny stuff there, they shouldn’t have gotten a dime to begin with. And since the Boy King has undone all the policies that Bush enacted, why wouldn’t he just ditch the second round and call for Chapter 11 just to make Bush look bad?
Knucklehead on March 29, 2009 at 6:22 PM
I’m just saying that the GOP doesn’t have a lot of moral high ground on this one…
Johnson on March 29, 2009 at 6:09 PM
Oh good. Where are the liberals who kept harping about imperial presidency the last eight years? Why are they silent now that the Dems are seizing power right, let and center?
promachus on March 29, 2009 at 6:22 PM
Why give more money to a guy that has massively underperformed?
SnarkVader on March 29, 2009 at 6:06 PM
You made a great point. O has massively underperformed. Why should we give him more of our tax payer money?
Key West Reader on March 29, 2009 at 6:24 PM
And here I was hoping for a slow, encroaching socialism. But somehow America jumped into the express lane.
And here I was hoping for a slow, encroaching socialism. But somehow America jumped into the express lane.
How convenient.
Black Adam on March 29, 2009 at 6:25 PM
Yeah, I hear that. I feel like a lobster that just got thrown into a pot of boiling water.
However, the American Patriots are mobilizing. And that is a good thing.
Key West Reader on March 29, 2009 at 6:26 PM
Barack Obama has arrogated a power to the Presidency that does not appear in the Constitution of the United States, and unceremoniously used it to interfere the operation of a publicly-held corporation.
Obama has committed a breach of his oath, and must resign.
drunyan8315 on March 29, 2009 at 6:26 PM
Say, doesn’t Obama want us to give him a bunch of our tax money to recover the economy? I have a little pre-condition in mind.
drunyan8315 on March 29, 2009 at 6:16 PM
Ding, ding, ding, winner!
msmveritas on March 29, 2009 at 6:27 PM
As an economic system, fascism is socialism with a capitalist veneer. The word derives from fasces, the Roman symbol of collectivism and power: a tied bundle of rods with a protruding ax. In its day (the 1920s and 1930s), fascism was seen as the happy medium between boom-and-bust-prone liberal capitalism, with its alleged class conflict, wasteful competition, and profit-oriented egoism, and revolutionary Marxism, with its violent and socially divisive persecution of the bourgeoisie. Fascism substituted the particularity of nationalism and racialism—“blood and soil”—for the internationalism of both classical liberalism and Marxism. Where socialism sought totalitarian control of a society’s economic processes through direct state operation of the means of production, fascism sought that control indirectly, through domination of nominally private owners. Where socialism nationalized property explicitly, fascism did so implicitly, by requiring owners to use their property in the “national interest”—that is, as the autocratic authority conceived it. (Nevertheless, a few industries were operated by the state.) Where socialism abolished all market relations outright, fascism left the appearance of market relations while planning all economic activities. Where socialism abolished money and prices, fascism controlled the monetary system and set all prices and wages politically. In doing all this, fascism denatured the marketplace. Entrepreneurship was abolished. State ministries, rather than consumers, determined what was produced and under what conditions.
In case anyone had any doubts or willing to give benefit of doubt.
anuts on March 29, 2009 at 6:32 PM
Dick Morris is totally right……
deidre on March 29, 2009 at 6:33 PM
I say put Bob Lutz in charge.
I don’t like it any more than the rest of you, it stinks of fascism, not socialism. Under fascist rule, the companies got to stay more or less intact, but they did the leader’s bidding.
There is of course, nothing we can actually do about it right now, it’s done. We stepped on this path last year – something for which we can well and truly excoriate Bush. We knew these things were going to happen, we talked about it back then.
JeffWeimer on March 29, 2009 at 6:34 PM
As I stated on an earlier thread, Obama’s plan is succeeding brilliantly. He’s making an omelette – first you break all the eggs ….
OldEnglish on March 29, 2009 at 6:34 PM
Great. We elect him president despite his glaring lack of relevant experience, and now he wants to run a business he has even less experience in.
RightOFLeft on March 29, 2009 at 6:38 PM
I have always wondered why the big three didn’t turn over their retirement and health care benefits to the union, and simply pay them a flat fee and let them maintain both. The union would have taken the deal just to get their hands on that kind of cash. It would have also put the manufacturers in a great position when the health and retirement plans went belly up.
You know what would happen. The unions wouldn’t be able to keep their hands off that money. The corruption, and mismanagement or both would have been legendary. The manufacturers could have rode in on white horses broke the union, by offering 401ks and off the shelf 80/20 insurance, and then sold the pension plan to the U.S. backed pension company. Wahla! No union and no pension/health care fund.
DFCtomm on March 29, 2009 at 6:38 PM
Now some of you may be wondering, ‘What does a commu ity organizer know about running a huge company like General Motors?”
Not to worry. He’ll turn running it over to the United Nations. It will save us from global warming.
The government has become the Mob! What a bunch of thugs!
hawkdriver on March 29, 2009 at 5:49 PM
Should not be a surprise. The anagram for Obama is:
OBAMA >>> A A MOB
Yoop on March 29, 2009 at 6:56 PM
Is this even legal?
dglenn on March 29, 2009 at 7:07 PM
I’m very happy at hearing this. It was time that disastrous company headed for bankruptcy had new leadership. If by Obama asking him, it pushed him out the door — so be it. Good riddance to a CEO who was way out of his depth. Most of middle America will see this as the President kicking out a rich fat cat who wasn’t doing his job — +1 Obama. Genious.
dcwvu on March 29, 2009 at 7:32 PM
promachus
Yes, the Norwegian pirates will save us.
Grow Fins on March 29, 2009 at 7:42 PM
Granted, I don’t think they should have been bailed out in the first place but what’s done is done.
SnarkVader on March 29, 2009 at 6:16 PM
You got it. The barn doors are open, the stampede has begun, and the doors can not be closed.
Wade on March 29, 2009 at 6:18 PM
Look! The trolls Agree!
Actually, the doors closed when the AIG executive printed an “I Quit!” in the NYT. That was what we call “Shrugging” telling Obama to kiss off.
Far better for the Company to break the Unions in Bankruptcy than go forward, but the ghastliness of the White House telling a private company president to step down is unfathomable. So at what point was he a Government Bureaucrat?
GunRunner on March 29, 2009 at 7:42 PM
Most of middle America will see this as the President kicking out a rich fat cat who wasn’t doing his job — +1 Obama. Genious.
More like frightening. This isn’t his job dude. And if you think it is, God help you.
Erich66 on March 29, 2009 at 7:56 PM
OMG – GM’s CEO ousted by the Feds! I am absolutely shocked!
Where in the Constitution does the Executive Branch have power to control private business like this? Obama is acting like a dictator. He is also heading a 500 person entourage over to Britain for the G20 summit. Can you imagine the outcry if President Bush had done any of this?!
Is Obama Emperor or is he President? Where are the Republicans and Conservatives who told voters Obama was a centrist?!
“1984″ and Big Brother lives!
sarahpalinfan99 on March 29, 2009 at 8:07 PM
Where in the Constitution does the Executive Branch have power to control private business like this? Obama is acting like a dictator. He is also heading a 500 person entourage over to Britain for the G20 summit. Can you imagine the outcry if President Bush had done any of this?!
Yep … Ogabe is another regular HUGO CHAVEZ there. First thing old Huge did was nationalize everything when he took over – no different for Ogabe.
I hope he keeps it up – the silent majority is rising!
Rick Wagoner drove GM to the ground and now he is doing it to America. This guy should have never been promoted to a leadership role in the first place.
jdun on March 29, 2009 at 8:46 PM
If you take government bailouts, guess what happens?
Now GM will be forced to manufacture little “government cars” into a market which doesn’t want them (apparently the Obamicrats haven’t heard that there is a glut of unwanted hybrids already occupying dealer inventory). That should really help the GM bottom line….NOT!!!
This treatment of GM is nothing but tyranny, and it can’t help but end badly for everyone. Because of the replacement of knowledgeable management with know-nothing bureacrats, GM will be destroyed along with all of the jobs which support their manufacturing.
Auto manufacture will thus be effectively outsourced to Japan, Korea, and Mexico.
This is change, but where’s the hope?
landlines on March 29, 2009 at 9:17 PM
Private Enterprise was found dead early today. Authorities suspect foul play but the White House announced that it was merely a “Progressive sovereignty adjustment“.
Wagoner better not take any severance pay or Obambi and company will have the ACORN thugs on the doorstep of his home demanding he give the money back. This is pitiful. Buy yourself a gun and start digging in.
Percy_Peabody on March 29, 2009 at 11:12 PM
If you take government bailouts, guess what happens?
Blowback
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Now we are in official fascism mode. Who is Obama to ask that a CEO step down?
promachus on March 29, 2009 at 5:39 PM
I am stunned. I shouldn’t be, but I am.
myrenovations on March 29, 2009 at 5:41 PM
Beat me to it.
Benito Obamalini.
hawkdriver on March 29, 2009 at 5:41 PM
Has this happened before?
p0s3r on March 29, 2009 at 5:41 PM
I won
Mark1971 on March 29, 2009 at 5:41 PM
And so it begins..
Babino on March 29, 2009 at 5:42 PM
Obama had a lot of supporters in the business world pre-election. The good news about all this is that people are learning how dangerous it is to partner with the government. Become a political problem and you can be villified or deposed.
kc8ukw on March 29, 2009 at 5:42 PM
This is utterly sickening
Candy Slice on March 29, 2009 at 5:42 PM
I wonder what the “or else” der Fuhrer offered was.
Maquis on March 29, 2009 at 5:42 PM
We are now under dictatorship. Welcome to Amerika!
jencab on March 29, 2009 at 5:42 PM
But the UAW, the fraudulent one’s totally cool with them, right?
He’s gone right off the rails. I don’t know how much more we can take of this regime . . .
califcon on March 29, 2009 at 5:42 PM
Coward…good riddance.
Wade on March 29, 2009 at 5:43 PM
This rates a headline?! Come on! This is more significant than that! Let’s move it down and get a blog post! Ed?! Allah?! Where are youuuuuuu?
gryphon202 on March 29, 2009 at 5:43 PM
If Obama continues to fail, who can demand his resignation as CEO of the USA?
wildcat84 on March 29, 2009 at 5:43 PM
What about the heads of the unions? Shouldn’t some roll there too?
Chubbs65 on March 29, 2009 at 5:43 PM
Yeah, why not demand Gettlefinger’s head?
Mark1971 on March 29, 2009 at 5:44 PM
So this is kinda what it feels like when you find out the Republic and Senate are being run by a Sith….
Wineaholic on March 29, 2009 at 5:45 PM
Remember when you’d read in the papers about this stuff happening in other countries like Russia, and in South America, and think, “It’s so nice to live in America where that doesn’t happen?”
This is scary stuff. I’m a big GM guy, but if it is totally nationalized like this, I won’t buy another car from them…
Johnson on March 29, 2009 at 5:45 PM
Is Obama a Socialist? I am thoroughly insulted by such a question.
mankai on March 29, 2009 at 5:45 PM
So much for being a free republic.
Matt Helm on March 29, 2009 at 5:46 PM
GM would’ve been better off with bankruptcy.
ddrintn on March 29, 2009 at 5:46 PM
I’m guessing Ed or AP is gathering more of a picture before opining.
Patrick S on March 29, 2009 at 5:46 PM
Picture should be of a Chevy going off a cliff
wildcat84 on March 29, 2009 at 5:47 PM
It means GM will get more bailout money.
I’ll bet it was a pre-condition.
aquaviva on March 29, 2009 at 5:47 PM
Our forefathers are rolling in their graves.
Mark Levin talks about this soft tyranny boiling up. Everyone get Liberty and Tyranny. A very timely book by Mark Levin.
jencab on March 29, 2009 at 5:48 PM
GM stock on Monday? Any guesses?
Johnson on March 29, 2009 at 5:48 PM
Well I guess this means they get another $17 billion of our tax dollars.
Middlefinger isn’t going anywhere. He’s a cash cow for the DNC.
Ted Torgerson on March 29, 2009 at 5:48 PM
Shocking. This s.o.b. is totally out of control.
petefrt on March 29, 2009 at 5:48 PM
My sorry, I thought GM was a PRIVATE company. Our fascist overlords have arrived.
Lance Murdock on March 29, 2009 at 5:49 PM
Seriously, the fact that the UAW people get to stay on shows that Obama’s goal is simply the destruction of free enterprise in the United States. (the world, really)
vdocam on March 29, 2009 at 5:49 PM
I actually feel like crying.
deidre on March 29, 2009 at 5:49 PM
The government has become the Mob! What a bunch of thugs!
hawkdriver on March 29, 2009 at 5:49 PM
I hope he told him to keep the dollar.
tree hugging sister on March 29, 2009 at 5:50 PM
Ed is waiting to see if some Catholic bishop weighs in… then he can move it to the blog.
mankai on March 29, 2009 at 5:51 PM
So far, we have just loaned them money, not actually bought 80% of it like AIG.
So, if we don’t own them, how can Obama justify this?
myrenovations on March 29, 2009 at 5:51 PM
Maybe Obama is pissed because GM is a big sponsor of conservative talk radio?
Candy Slice on March 29, 2009 at 5:51 PM
Everyone call GM tomorrow…..
dangitt on March 29, 2009 at 5:52 PM
“I love the smell of my President making decisions for private enterprises…smells, like, depression.”
Robert_Paulson on March 29, 2009 at 5:52 PM
Hey, RNC, You got a commercial ready to run yet?
mankai on March 29, 2009 at 5:53 PM
After Wagoner leaves the room, Obama turns to Geithner and says “leave the gun, take the cannoli.”
Johnson on March 29, 2009 at 5:53 PM
It’s something like our Reichstag fire. It’s an excuse to grab huge chunks of the private sector in the name of protecting taxpayer interests.
ddrintn on March 29, 2009 at 5:53 PM
Wow… just…. wow…
Does Bambi know that he just slit his own throat as far as any cooperation from the business community on buying those toxic assets is concerned?
And I wonder how the GM Board feels about how Obama, who is not a stock holder, just usurped their power?
Pre condition for money? or Blackmail? is there really a difference?
Romeo13 on March 29, 2009 at 5:54 PM
It is such a relief to have Osama Obama’s years of engineering, design and marketing experience guiding GM! I mean, he’s such an expert, right?
Say goodbye to GM, folks. And Chrysler, too. Letting the child-president and his band of mindless, platitude-spouting buffoons give the orders will tank both companies fast, albeit not fast enough to avoid consuming billions of counterfeit dollars on the way down.
Oh, and say goodbye to Ford, too. By not begging for alms from The Messiah’s bowl, they will be denied the government-mandated competitive advantages of forced union givebacks and pennies-on-the-dollar bond settlements. No, Ford will have to do things the old-fashioned way, and as we’ve seen when Detroit had to face the government-supported, union-free plants the import manufacturers set up here, when one player gets a marked deck, the other one’s gonna lose.
Nice job, Obama and Co.
Do we have to wait until after their death-and-destruction attacks on America’s economy, safety and people are complete, or can we start impeachment proceedings against this Marxist jerk now?
MrScribbler on March 29, 2009 at 5:54 PM
They don’t have that much honor.
mankai on March 29, 2009 at 5:54 PM
Second look at Vladimir Putin.
econavenger on March 29, 2009 at 5:54 PM
If the GOP had any sense and guts, they’ll take this and paint Obama as a fascist.
promachus on March 29, 2009 at 5:54 PM
Did the unions complain that they were being forced to make too many concessions?
Buy Danish on March 29, 2009 at 5:55 PM
Absolutely. Plus, I remember reading that the government could have bought the company outright for far less than the loans they have already received.
califcon on March 29, 2009 at 5:56 PM
This needs to be screamed from the housetops… they gave out bail-out money so they could things like this… they just needed an excuse to nationalize industries… but the RNC doesn’t have the nads to point out the truth.
mankai on March 29, 2009 at 5:57 PM
Steele might just put out a press release claiming his “disappointment.” We have a gutless RNC.
jencab on March 29, 2009 at 5:57 PM
If I had a dollar for every time anyone has said this, I could have bought the presidency for a decent human being.
myrenovations on March 29, 2009 at 5:57 PM
Now come on, those are saved for really important posts like Megan McCain’s inane tweets.
Topsecretk9 on March 29, 2009 at 5:57 PM
It is, but it has borrowed so much from the US, that the feds can start telling it how it should be run. GM would have been better off in Chapter 11.
Wonder how many bankers are going to be trying hard to find out how to return bailout money come Monday.
And how much support Geithner will now have in Congress for his new, expanded “regulations.”
Wethal on March 29, 2009 at 5:57 PM
Has our fascist-in-chief appointed a new CEO yet?
Rae on March 29, 2009 at 5:58 PM
Since the position of CEO at GM is now – apparently – a political patronage job, does the new CEO need to be confirmed by Congress or will he be a member of the White House staff?
Next up – getting the
trainsbuses to run on time.lonesomecharlie on March 29, 2009 at 5:58 PM
All together now — “Just imagine if Bush had done this.”
SheofTwoMinds on March 29, 2009 at 5:59 PM
Next up? The head of the UAW will be installed as the new CEO.
Folks, this is downright chilling. This must be stopped. Now. Not in 2010. NOW.
Key West Reader on March 29, 2009 at 5:59 PM
I’m a Bush supporter, but it was he that kicked this can down the road. He could have denied tarp funds and forced GM into bankruptcy.
Johnson on March 29, 2009 at 5:59 PM
The head of GM is not smart enough to know when you take money from thugs you will dance to the music. No damned wonder GM is broke. Now you have thugs on the top and the union thugs. Anyone who buys GM is nutz.
Wade on March 29, 2009 at 6:00 PM
I got a bad feeling about this…
Iblis on March 29, 2009 at 6:02 PM
So who will replace Wagoner, and how much did he or she donate to the Czar’s campaign?
Mark1971 on March 29, 2009 at 6:03 PM
Drudge has it up with a siren.
Topsecretk9 on March 29, 2009 at 6:03 PM
Quit blaming the past for what happens today. Bush is not President Obama is, and the buck is on his watch. Get over your BDS.
Wade on March 29, 2009 at 6:03 PM
If I had any extra money to be thinking about buying a new car, I would never, never buy anything from GM simply as a matter of protest, however it will be interesting to see what “incentives” Barry “offers” his minions to help him bailout his latest disaster move.
anniekc on March 29, 2009 at 6:03 PM
Buy Danish on March 29, 2009 at 6:04 PM
That little piece of sh*t car in the Iowahawk parody is one day closer to reality.
Mark1971 on March 29, 2009 at 6:04 PM
With this new found power, could Obama now weild it in getting Al Davis to step away from the Raiders?
myrenovations on March 29, 2009 at 6:04 PM
Google ‘Socialist Tax Cheat’ you will probably find the name.
Wade on March 29, 2009 at 6:05 PM
WIDDI?
thomasaur on March 29, 2009 at 6:05 PM
Wouldn’t surprise me in the least to find that this has been discussed.
petefrt on March 29, 2009 at 6:05 PM
If the consensus is that Wagoner is leading GM in the wrong direction, why wouldn’t Obama demand he has to go before giving GM another gazillion bucks? Why give more money to a guy that has massively underperformed?
SnarkVader on March 29, 2009 at 6:06 PM
Kiss the ring, guys.
Who knew Obama was so smart that he knows how to run one of the largest companies in the world, but went into public service instead of making millions. What a great guy.
Johnson on March 29, 2009 at 6:06 PM
Who’s next, the CEO of Chrysler too?
Time for more support for Tea Party’s
Knucklehead on March 29, 2009 at 6:07 PM
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Chaz706 on March 29, 2009 at 6:08 PM
I’m just saying that the GOP doesn’t have a lot of moral high ground on this one…
Johnson on March 29, 2009 at 6:09 PM
You trust BO with spending? He already has more debt that all the other Presidents combined, but sounds as if you are OK with his decisions?
Wade on March 29, 2009 at 6:09 PM
For the first time in my adult life, I’m proud, really proud of my country.
LibTired on March 29, 2009 at 6:11 PM
They wanted government help, they got it. Actions have consequences. I see this as a good thing in that it should deter private companies from going to the government for help.
SouthernGent on March 29, 2009 at 6:11 PM
Ha ha, how does this help Michelle’s children?
Johnson on March 29, 2009 at 6:12 PM
Some of the banks are already falling all over themselves wanting to pay back the “stimulus” money. Unfortunately, the “stimulus” package does not include any means of doing so.
califcon on March 29, 2009 at 6:12 PM
You might have a valid point if you accept the idea that the government should be bailing out GM. I don’t accept it.
Mark1971 on March 29, 2009 at 6:12 PM
Get with the program Comrade! It’s not spending it’s an investment.
sarc/
Knucklehead on March 29, 2009 at 6:13 PM
Well if that’s his agenda, he’s in for a rude awakening; Two reasons- Libs don’t buy American cars. They aren’t cool enough, AND, I am overly confident that Rush has sponsers waiting in line to pay him huge money to plug their products. No one has a bigger audience and has more influence than Rush- no one.
anniekc on March 29, 2009 at 6:14 PM
Barry will deny knowing he promised a big bonus..
Let me guess the President of the UAW is next?
lasertex on March 29, 2009 at 6:14 PM
No, you said BUSH. Who controls the money? And who is and was (as this developed) in control of who controls the money? Follow the money and you will find culprits. It was not Bush or as you try to back peddle the GOP.
Wade on March 29, 2009 at 6:15 PM
When Pres. Bush gave the first bailout in Dec., it came with a set of targets that the auto companies had to meet by the March 31st deadline. If GM didn’t meet them, and it’s obvious that they didn’t, shouldn’t there be penalties before they get the next round of money?
SnarkVader on March 29, 2009 at 6:15 PM
The speculation seems to be that Wagoner didn’t get enough concessions from the bond holders. Hence, his removal by BO. In the report I heard (I think it was on Fox, or a local Detroit station), BO supposedly inferred that the bond holders had better be ready to make concessions or else.
This is only part one folks.
shibumi on March 29, 2009 at 6:15 PM
We HAVE to stop this scoundrel from ruining the world economy. Time for discussion is over. Time for action is now. Time for politeness is over. Learn from the Left. We are morally free, nay morally obligated to fight Obama. Using the same techniques they used against us. The gloves are off. The mask is off. He has shown he is a fascist. Now lets stop doodling and start fighting. The future of civilization is at stake.
“The brutes, private or public, who believe that they can rule their betters by force, will learn the lesson of what happens when brute force encounters mind and force.
“If my fellow men believe that the force of the combined tonnage of their muscles is a practical means to rule me-let them learn the outcome of a contest in which there’s nothing but brute force on one side, and force ruled by a mind, on the other”–Ragnar Danneskjold(Atlas Shrugged)
It’s time to go Ragnar. Lets roll.
promachus on March 29, 2009 at 6:16 PM
Granted, I don’t think they should have been bailed out in the first place but what’s done is done.
SnarkVader on March 29, 2009 at 6:16 PM
Say, doesn’t Obama want us to give him a bunch of our tax money to recover the economy? I have a little pre-condition in mind. If the President can demand the resignation of the head of a publicly-held company for non-performance, before givng the company a bail-out, we taxpayers can demand the resignation of the President for the exact same cause!
drunyan8315 on March 29, 2009 at 6:16 PM
Jess…. for in Socialist Amerika… Car Czar will appoint CEO for corporation!
But wait… can’t be Czar…. new post to be created… the Car Comrade!
Romeo13 on March 29, 2009 at 6:18 PM
This isn’t about either party, unless you’re talking about the CPUSA.
thomasaur on March 29, 2009 at 6:18 PM
You got it. The barn doors are open, the stampede has begun, and the doors can not be closed.
Wade on March 29, 2009 at 6:18 PM
It’s the Chicago-way, or end up with the fishes!
christene on March 29, 2009 at 6:19 PM
Wow, just wow.
vcferlita on March 29, 2009 at 6:19 PM
calm down buddy.
It’s history, not BDS.
Johnson on March 29, 2009 at 6:20 PM
LOL!
JohnJ on March 29, 2009 at 6:20 PM
And the ones making that determination are people like Obama, Frank and Dodd. Man, libs apparently have no sense of irony.
ddrintn on March 29, 2009 at 6:21 PM
Penalities say you? Funny stuff there, they shouldn’t have gotten a dime to begin with. And since the Boy King has undone all the policies that Bush enacted, why wouldn’t he just ditch the second round and call for Chapter 11 just to make Bush look bad?
Knucklehead on March 29, 2009 at 6:22 PM
Oh good. Where are the liberals who kept harping about imperial presidency the last eight years? Why are they silent now that the Dems are seizing power right, let and center?
promachus on March 29, 2009 at 6:22 PM
You made a great point. O has massively underperformed. Why should we give him more of our tax payer money?
Key West Reader on March 29, 2009 at 6:24 PM
And here I was hoping for a slow, encroaching socialism. But somehow America jumped into the express lane.
How convenient.
Black Adam on March 29, 2009 at 6:25 PM
Yeah, I hear that. I feel like a lobster that just got thrown into a pot of boiling water.
However, the American Patriots are mobilizing. And that is a good thing.
Key West Reader on March 29, 2009 at 6:26 PM
Barack Obama has arrogated a power to the Presidency that does not appear in the Constitution of the United States, and unceremoniously used it to interfere the operation of a publicly-held corporation.
Obama has committed a breach of his oath, and must resign.
drunyan8315 on March 29, 2009 at 6:26 PM
Ding, ding, ding, winner!
msmveritas on March 29, 2009 at 6:27 PM
http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Fascism.html
In case anyone had any doubts or willing to give benefit of doubt.
anuts on March 29, 2009 at 6:32 PM
Dick Morris is totally right……
deidre on March 29, 2009 at 6:33 PM
I say put Bob Lutz in charge.
I don’t like it any more than the rest of you, it stinks of fascism, not socialism. Under fascist rule, the companies got to stay more or less intact, but they did the leader’s bidding.
There is of course, nothing we can actually do about it right now, it’s done. We stepped on this path last year – something for which we can well and truly excoriate Bush. We knew these things were going to happen, we talked about it back then.
JeffWeimer on March 29, 2009 at 6:34 PM
As I stated on an earlier thread, Obama’s plan is succeeding brilliantly. He’s making an omelette – first you break all the eggs ….
OldEnglish on March 29, 2009 at 6:34 PM
Great. We elect him president despite his glaring lack of relevant experience, and now he wants to run a business he has even less experience in.
RightOFLeft on March 29, 2009 at 6:38 PM
I have always wondered why the big three didn’t turn over their retirement and health care benefits to the union, and simply pay them a flat fee and let them maintain both. The union would have taken the deal just to get their hands on that kind of cash. It would have also put the manufacturers in a great position when the health and retirement plans went belly up.
You know what would happen. The unions wouldn’t be able to keep their hands off that money. The corruption, and mismanagement or both would have been legendary. The manufacturers could have rode in on white horses broke the union, by offering 401ks and off the shelf 80/20 insurance, and then sold the pension plan to the U.S. backed pension company. Wahla! No union and no pension/health care fund.
DFCtomm on March 29, 2009 at 6:38 PM
Now some of you may be wondering, ‘What does a commu ity organizer know about running a huge company like General Motors?”
Not to worry. He’ll turn running it over to the United Nations. It will save us from global warming.
petefrt on March 29, 2009 at 6:39 PM
He’s driven a GM car, that make him expert.
lasertex on March 29, 2009 at 6:49 PM
Should not be a surprise. The anagram for Obama is:
OBAMA >>> A A MOB
Yoop on March 29, 2009 at 6:56 PM
Is this even legal?
dglenn on March 29, 2009 at 7:07 PM
I’m very happy at hearing this. It was time that disastrous company headed for bankruptcy had new leadership. If by Obama asking him, it pushed him out the door — so be it. Good riddance to a CEO who was way out of his depth. Most of middle America will see this as the President kicking out a rich fat cat who wasn’t doing his job — +1 Obama. Genious.
dcwvu on March 29, 2009 at 7:32 PM
Yes, the Norwegian pirates will save us.
Grow Fins on March 29, 2009 at 7:42 PM
Look! The trolls Agree!
Actually, the doors closed when the AIG executive printed an “I Quit!” in the NYT. That was what we call “Shrugging” telling Obama to kiss off.
Far better for the Company to break the Unions in Bankruptcy than go forward, but the ghastliness of the White House telling a private company president to step down is unfathomable. So at what point was he a Government Bureaucrat?
GunRunner on March 29, 2009 at 7:42 PM
More like frightening. This isn’t his job dude. And if you think it is, God help you.
Erich66 on March 29, 2009 at 7:56 PM
OMG – GM’s CEO ousted by the Feds! I am absolutely shocked!
Where in the Constitution does the Executive Branch have power to control private business like this? Obama is acting like a dictator. He is also heading a 500 person entourage over to Britain for the G20 summit. Can you imagine the outcry if President Bush had done any of this?!
Is Obama Emperor or is he President? Where are the Republicans and Conservatives who told voters Obama was a centrist?!
“1984″ and Big Brother lives!
sarahpalinfan99 on March 29, 2009 at 8:07 PM
Yep … Ogabe is another regular HUGO CHAVEZ there. First thing old Huge did was nationalize everything when he took over – no different for Ogabe.
I hope he keeps it up – the silent majority is rising!
HondaV65 on March 29, 2009 at 8:16 PM
Who didn’t see this coming? Bailout=Extortion.
Fletch54 on March 29, 2009 at 8:17 PM
Tyranny rising.
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on March 29, 2009 at 8:36 PM
At last, we can all see Russia from our house.
Tony Soprano on March 29, 2009 at 8:41 PM
Rick Wagoner drove GM to the ground and now he is doing it to America. This guy should have never been promoted to a leadership role in the first place.
jdun on March 29, 2009 at 8:46 PM
If you take government bailouts, guess what happens?
True_King on March 29, 2009 at 8:57 PM
Great!!!
Now GM will be forced to manufacture little “government cars” into a market which doesn’t want them (apparently the Obamicrats haven’t heard that there is a glut of unwanted hybrids already occupying dealer inventory). That should really help the GM bottom line….NOT!!!
This treatment of GM is nothing but tyranny, and it can’t help but end badly for everyone. Because of the replacement of knowledgeable management with know-nothing bureacrats, GM will be destroyed along with all of the jobs which support their manufacturing.
Auto manufacture will thus be effectively outsourced to Japan, Korea, and Mexico.
This is change, but where’s the hope?
landlines on March 29, 2009 at 9:17 PM
Private Enterprise was found dead early today. Authorities suspect foul play but the White House announced that it was merely a “Progressive sovereignty adjustment“.
Crusty on March 29, 2009 at 9:27 PM
No, now we can expect that $4/gallon gas we’ve been hearing is so wonderful.
BigWyo on March 29, 2009 at 9:32 PM
INCONCEIVABLE!
well I guess not in a police state like the U.S.
We are so f u c k e d!
This should do wonders for the stock market tomorrow.
TheSitRep on March 29, 2009 at 9:55 PM
Wagoner better not take any severance pay or Obambi and company will have the ACORN thugs on the doorstep of his home demanding he give the money back. This is pitiful. Buy yourself a gun and start digging in.
Percy_Peabody on March 29, 2009 at 11:12 PM
You make “Piss Christ.”
Jim Treacher on March 30, 2009 at 8:00 AM