GM CEO resigns at Obama's behest

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

By MIKE ALLEN | 3/29/09 5:44 PM EDT

The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed, a White House official said.

The White House confirmed Wagoner was leaving at the government's behest after The Associated Press reported his immediate departure, without giving a reason.

On Monday, President Obama is to unveil his plans for the auto industry, including a response to a request for additional funds by GM and Chrysler.

Industry sources had said the White House planned very tough medicine, which turned out to be an understatement. And it went to the very top. The measures to be imposed by the government will have a dramatic effect on workers, unions, suppliers, retirees and the communities where plants are located, the sources said.

GM and Chrysler have to prove their viability as a condition of a federal bailout released under former President George W. Bush, and both have asked the current administration for more money.

Obama said Friday in an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation,” broadcast Sunday, that the carmakers were going to have to do more.

“There's been some serious efforts to deal with a combination of long-standing problems in the auto industry,” the president told host Bob Schieffer. “What we're trying to let them know is that we want to have a successful auto industry, U.S. auto industry. We think we can have a successful U.S. auto industry. But it's got to be one that's realistically designed to weather this storm and to emerge at the other end much more lean, mean and competitive than it currently is.

“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.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/20625.html

Edited March 29, 2009 by Mister_Bill

[dalegg 143]

“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.

Unions backed Obama, right?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed.... end of story.

Trying to find controversy when there is none is just being petty.

[PlatyPius 5]

If the government is bailing them out, the government has the right to demand changes. If they don't want government intrusion, they are welcome to not accept government money.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

If the government is bailing them out, the government has the right to demand changes. If they don't want government intrusion, they are welcome to not accept government money.

Exactly.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed.... end of story.

Trying to find controversy when there is none is just being petty.

GM officials declined to comment.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed.... end of story.

Trying to find controversy when there is none is just being petty.

GM officials declined to comment.

Coming up: UAW President Ron Gettelfinger asked to resign...NOT!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed.... end of story.

Trying to find controversy when there is none is just being petty.

GM officials declined to comment.

Coming up: UAW President Ron Gettelfinger asked to resign...NOT!

Does he fly around in his own private jet?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed.... end of story.

Trying to find controversy when there is none is just being petty.

GM officials declined to comment.

Coming up: UAW President Ron Gettelfinger asked to resign...NOT!

Does he fly around in his own private jet?

Nope:

Gettelfinger doesn't come off as a stereotypical union boss, either. A trim 62-year-old, he doesn't travel with an entourage, and he brings his wife, Judy, to out-of-town meetings. Instead of being chauffeured about, he drives himself.

"I think he's different than most autoworkers, including myself," says Douglas Fraser, a former union president who has known Gettelfinger since the 1980s. "He doesn't drink. He doesn't smoke. His lifestyle is much stricter."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...toryId=12099085

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

UPDATED:

Obama and his aides may have honed in on Wagoner for two reasons. First, his company is asking for the most in total federal aid: $26 billion, a figure administration officials fear could grow even larger. Second, the GM chief was tied more directly to the ill-fated decisions that that brought much of the American auto industry to the brink of collapse. Wagoner joined GM in 1977, has had a senior role in GM management since 1992, and became CEO of the company in 2000. He is considered responsible for increasing GM's focus on trucks and SUVs—at the expense of the hybrids and fuel efficient cars that have become more popular in the last couple of years.

By contrast, Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli, whose resignation does not seem to have been demanded as a price of further federal aid, was a newcomer to the auto industry when he was lured to that company to help turn it around. Nardelli had previously headed Home Depot.

Government officials have little reason to tilt at Ford CEO Alan Mulally since his firm has not actually taken bailout funds from the government. Ford asked for a $9 billion line of credit from the feds, but the firm has said it has no plans to tap the credit facility.

Obama's move against Wagoner hearkens back to September 2008 when President Bush's Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, insisted that AIG CEO Robert Willumstad step down as part of an $85 billion bailout of the insurance giant. Paulson installed in his place Edward Liddy, a former Allstate executive. The AIG bailout has since grown to about $170 billion and Liddy has faced calls for his resignation in the wake of reports about hundreds of millions of dollars-worth of bonuses the firm agreed to pay to employees.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/20625.html

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Restructuring debt

The major sticking point continues to be restructuring the companies' debt. The loan terms call on GM to try to shed two-thirds of its unsecured debt and to get the UAW to accept half of the money owed the union for its retiree health care trust in stock rather than cash.

People familiar with GM's negotiations with bondholders have said it is unlikely a deal will be reached by Tuesday.

One person, for example, left no room for question when asked, saying it would "absolutely not" occur.

Bondholders have been critical of GM's viability plan, specifically questioning what they consider overly optimistic sales projections for the U.S. market.

Meanwhile, the UAW, which has tentatively agreed to concession contracts with GM and Chrysler, has accused the bondholders of resisting changes called for as part of the loans.

"It's a cage match," David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research, said. "The idea is for everybody to come out of the game alive."

Obama and his auto task force have been sending signals over the past week or so that seem to indicate the administration's openness to continue helping the companies as long as there is shared sacrifice.

Task force head Steven Rattner has said that bankruptcy is not the best option for the industry and that GM and Chrysler might need considerably more than the $21.6 billion they've requested.

Task force members have said the new plan to help Detroit might contain a framework -- namely, deadlines and conditions for revamping their business -- with unspecific pledges of aid to come if they prove their viability.

"That viability is largely going to depend on a restructuring that allows it" the industry "to compete in a very changed global economic environment, and to do so without continued government assistance," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Friday.

Talk that the government is not looking to push GM into bankruptcy could be making negotiations with bondholders more difficult, industry observers said.

"The financial bailout and the rhetoric could, in our view, harden bondholders' positions as they may see reduced risk of bankruptcy-driven losses in the value of their holdings," Efraim Levy, an equity analyst with Standard & Poor's, said in a note.

http://www.freep.com/article/20090329/BUSINESS01/903290467

[Donna A 4]

The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed.... end of story.

Trying to find controversy when there is none is just being petty.

GM officials declined to comment.

Coming up: UAW President Ron Gettelfinger asked to resign...NOT!

wrong....gettlefinger is retiring!!! u must have missed that one.

usually when they change ceos bankruptcy follows.

[Donna A 4]

The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed.... end of story.

Trying to find controversy when there is none is just being petty.

GM officials declined to comment.

Coming up: UAW President Ron Gettelfinger asked to resign...NOT!

Does he fly around in his own private jet?

Nope:

Gettelfinger doesn't come off as a stereotypical union boss, either. A trim 62-year-old, he doesn't travel with an entourage, and he brings his wife, Judy, to out-of-town meetings. Instead of being chauffeured about, he drives himself.

"I think he's different than most autoworkers, including myself," says Douglas Fraser, a former union president who has known Gettelfinger since the 1980s. "He doesn't drink. He doesn't smoke. His lifestyle is much stricter."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...toryId=12099085

the part about gettlefinger flying in his own jet is uaw isnt hurting. gm is the one hurting. two different organizations. so if gettlefinger wants to fly in his own jet he is able since the uaw is not close to bankruptcy.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed.... end of story.

Trying to find controversy when there is none is just being petty.

GM officials declined to comment.

Coming up: UAW President Ron Gettelfinger asked to resign...NOT!

wrong....gettlefinger is retiring!!! u must have missed that one.

usually when they change ceos bankruptcy follows.

Mar 20, 2009 ... United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said he will not seek re-election and plans to retire when his term ends June 30, 2010.

You are right!