Breaking: Obama Demands GM CEO Rick Wagoner Step Down Immediately
***UPDATE***
CNBC:
Wagoner’s resignation comes as the company awaits president Barack Obama’s reports on efforts to save GM and Chrysler.
It is unclear if Wagoner’s resignation is one of the stipulations for the federal government to lend billions more to GM. But sources close to the talks say tough conditions will be attached to any future aid.
President Obama will update the public on the Treasury Department’s next step in helping GM and Chrysler on Monday afternoon.
A senior White House official did not deny to CNBC that the Obama administration influenced Wagoner’s departure.
Asked if the administration forced him out, the senior official replied, “‘forced’ is a little strong.”
Wagoner has served as CEO since 2000. Under his leadership, GM has steadily lost market share in North America while becoming the dominant automaker in China, where it is currently number one.
For all of Wagoner’s international success, his inability to cut losses and make GM profitable in North America is ultimately the cause of his downfall. Vice Chairman and President Fritz Henderson is expected to step in upon Wagoner’s departure.
GM CEO resigns at Obama’s behest
By MIKE ALLEN
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.”
Bush added: “They’re not there yet.”
DETROIT — A person with knowledge of General Motors’ plans says Rick Wagoner will step down immediately as chairman and chief executive of the struggling Detroit automaker.
The person asked not to be identified because Wagoner’s plans have not been formally announced.
The move comes on the eve of President Obama unveiling his plan to reinvigorate the U.S. auto industry. Obama and other administration officials have said they would demand deeper restructuring from General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC before they would get any more government loans.
Both companies are living on a total of $17.4 billion in federal aid.
(AP)
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“The move comes on the eve of President Obama unveiling his plan to reinvigorate the U.S. auto industry.”
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Like his highly successful plan top reverse the sinking US economy? What a blowhard. I hope this president fails.
To stop the reverse…Jezze…wish there was an edit option.
No hiding it now.
Dictator.
Boy,this stinks.What now,an Auto Czar?
This is so fucked but hey!
You get what you pay for in the world of Gov.
They should not have taken the money they should have know about hidden strings. They should have had a massive sale, lay offs, and restructured under whatever corporation would buy them on the free marked and maybe some union busting for good measure.
Ah, creating a new job. He’ll probably fill it with someone like Franklin Raines.
There has to be a self serving motive behind this..afterall everything is about HIM…hmmm…wonder what it is.
He wants a free P.O.N.T.I.A.C. Do I have to spell it out for anyone?
Looks like he got tangled in all those strings attached to the cash.
Who’s going to buy a car from a auto company owned by the government?
Are they gonna call it Obomamotors now?
and that sucks too. im driving a chevy truck, like i have my whole life and this whole thing has me pissed. i wont buy a vehicle from a company the US government runs
I know they are letting Saab go..or that is what the dealer told me a few weeks ago when I went for an oil change. He said GM never made any money off of Saab and he blamed UAW for all their problems.
THE CEO of GM should not be resigning because the POTUS requests it. GM shareholders and directors can request it, but not the POTUS.
Socialism is Obama’s game.
Seems like nobody in DC really gives a shit. They talk but I sure don’t see any action.
most people will poopoo the notion….. but what else can you conclude but that there is real evil afoot and we are all looking at this and we have felt for a while that wrong is right and right is wrong but now we are just way beyond that, the Constitution, The Bill Of Rights …………the American people lit the match and Obama is torching everything in site.
This is the problem with real evil you have the followers of Islam doing the same thing to you, they and Barak tell you to your face what they are going to do, and then when it happens you say something…like “uh dude this can’t be right, this isn’t what I voted for..wheres the love bro?
I thought only China did things like this.
How can a president of the US make anyone step down?
I would give him the middle finger and close the door.
He must have been given some back door cash.
Unbelievable. Where in the constitution is it written that a POTUS can do this? When will America wake up from this nightmare. Republican resurrection had better come in 2010.
We need a strategy. Target 1 should be Harry Reid. He has to go, but is being helped by SEIU in his bid for reelection. I plan to donate to the Nevada Republican party to get rid of this twit. I regret not giving to Murtha’s opponent. Fool me once.
The constitution, free enterprise and capitalism are now dead. Arbitrary law is the rule. We have entered into dictatorship. The possibility of saving the nation is fading, even Gen. Petraeus is now a shill for Obama;
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/gov.-petraeus-u.s.-no-less-safe-under-obama-2009-03-29.html
I hope this is not the case with the General. Maybe his is just playing the game so to stay in it? If he stands strong against obongo he would get shut out. Lets give him time, He is an honorable man who believes in our country and our constitution.
It pained me to read this regarding the General. I am a great admirer of him. I have not completely given up hope with our military. I believe it will be they, joining with patriotic citizens, who will ultimately return the US to its true course. But, I repeat, time and hope are fading.
DO NOT WANT.
RIP U.S. Constitution
Killed by the ignorance of 300,000,000.
It was fun while it lasted I guess.
GM is gonna make YUGOs
Absolutly disgusting!!
So what’s the constitutionality of Obama demanding anyone resign from any where?
Did you hear geithner when pressed by bachman? He said “the law of the land”??
Last night on sirius patriot 144 chuck H.[cant remember his last name but was a former politician] said that this attack on coorporations was a squeeze of funds that would possible go to gop campaign contributions. I thought this was very interesting as I had not heard it put this way before and we all know everything that happens in DC is about campaigning.
Also we know that obongo wants to destroy the gop to have a 1 party rule.
Now this morning I hear on FOX news that AIG is pressuring its people to donate money 2,100[i think they said] to Chris Dodd.
interesting chain of events…..
There is no constitutional basis for this action. Much of what the Obama administration has done lately is extra-constitutional. What we are witnessing would have been called, in a more rational time, high-treason.
Article 1, Section 8, Clause 18 is their ‘cover’.
That’s why ‘crisis’ is so important (and useful) to them and why Geithner says his actions are to ‘protect’ American citizens.
True, this is their ‘cover’, but the crisis required by the constitutional citation above was not meant to include manufactured crisis. Thus, the actions of the administration remain, extra-constitutional and, therefore, treasonous.
Not arguing with “extra-Constitutional” and certainly not that their actions are proper.
No one has the nuts to take them on in the SCOTUS about whether or not their actions ‘bailing out’ companies, providing ‘entitlements’, nationalizing financial institutions and others through purchases of stock whether common or preferred, etc., etc. is either necessary or proper.
Pretty much the same thing happened in the Heller handgun case. The NRA actually fought against bringing the case, fearful of a ‘wrong’ decision. In fact, Scalia telegraphed that the Court might have decided against licensing handguns as well but the issue was not brought up for the Court to decide.
ZERO BALLS on our side willing AND ABLE to take these issues as far as it needs to go legally.
Barry needs to have his ass hauled into court while it still exists.
Within the next few weeks, months at the most, EVERY MSM reporter, producer, writer, copyboy NEED to be executed.
EVERY FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT IN HOLLYWOOD NEED TO BE EXECUTED.
Come on, You Marines and all, DO Your DUTY.
We, the people, are slipping away.
Yes it is slipping… but I do not think We the People will slip away permanently, We the People have to get ACTIVE to stop this from repeating.
I bet Wagoner paid his taxes on time.
Joe Average you sound like an average idiot, or a plant. Bloodshed is easy to call for when you do not have the balls to do it yourself.
You call on the Marines to do ‘duty’ and kill fellow citizens for voicing opinions? Your an ass. Go away.
Joe has very fucked up grammar too. That’s a sure sign of a leftist upbringing. The other sure sign is the overuse of caps. I can never figure out why they type like that all the time.
fuck off….one thing’ is sure, you both are very little chickenshits in all your believes. Oh, please “someone else take my share of the load, etc.”
Steve and Scoot, when WE are approximately 50% of the Citizens of this Country, but:
Our vote is trampled by 20% of the citizens who falsify another 40% of the votes from “people who don’t exist” by fruad votes of dead and fictious voters.
Our legal system is now 60%-70% Leftist-Marxist, and most “Conservative” causes are thrown out of court.
Our press/media is 95% Ultra-Left, and there is NO VOICE for us.
Academia is 95% Ultra-Left/Marxist at best, teaching the destruction of the Constitution.
Our local governments are are almost 95% Ultra-Left/Marxist in the EAST/WEST and Major Cities, and approaching 60%-70& of forced Leftism in the small “Heartland of American” towns.
Our local schools are 95% Ultra-Left/Marxist and care more for Illegal Aliens than American students.
Islam is being FORCED on us as accept or else. We know within a year, it will be join or else, and the GOVERNMENT is are allowing the destruction of Christianity and Judism.
If we don’t have a chance to beat the left by Judicial/Informational/Political means, what’s left?
The answer is use the same way The Left came to power through the Riots/Vandalism; Initmidation/Violence/Murder; and STEALING BACK the elections by stopping them from continuing fraud voting.
We have already had the 21st Century version of The Boston Massacre, Concord, and Lexington with the Election Fraud, the Bailout, and Stimulus……Our Country need US.
This is what the Declaration of Independence was all about!!!
As far as me being liberal, I type bad when I’m angry. But you two sound more like RINOs that are just here to badmouth people.
So shoot somebody Mr. Average or shut the fuck up.
Libtards…gitarope.
This action is a template that will be followed to nationalize private industries.
Unless we stop them.
When are CEO’s, banks, private industry going to stand up to the usurper and the bullies in Congress? Every day I see more outrageous and unconstitutional demands and everyone’s craven acquiescence. Where is Howard Roark when we need him? Who is John Galt? A brave man dies only once, but a coward dies a thousand deaths.
I will not buy another GM (UAW) product as long as Obamafuck has his hands in it….I WON’T BUY ANYTHING THAT HE TOUCHES!
The putrid smell of socialism is in the air, from sea to shining (hey, isn’t that a chinese oil rig?) sea…
Socialism, plain and simple. Maybe a little facism now as Mr Obama will next attempt to make the trains run on time. Il Duce!! or Il Dufus…
Andrew Carnegie’s response to the socialist who harangued him about redistribution….. Carnegie asked his secretary for two numbers–the world’s population and the value of all his assets. He divided the latter by the former, then said to his secretary, “Give this gentleman 16 cents. That is his share of my net worth.”
Oh, Joe Average…try decaf.
It’s just the beginning folks, the Obama Administrations reach into American Industry, is the signal for the Nationalization of many more to come. In the case of General Motors, the bailout was supposed to be a loan for restructuring the company. The taxpayers were put in the position of becoming loan sharks for failing companies, now we are supposed to sit back and let our government run the biggest company in our history. Of course they say they aren’t interested in running this company, but how do you explain the firing by our President of the Chief Executive Officer. Out of the Senate, the House of Representatives and the Executive branch, I would venture to say positively, there is not enough talent available and work experience, to run a Mac Donald’s franchise, let alone a major industrial complex like General Motors. If you remember, the Feds couldn’t even show a profit in a brothel, when they took over the Mustang Ranch. This is just the first step in the Nationalization of our major industries. Think about it, people like Reiche, Waters, Dodd and who knows who else will be running this company by proxy. If past protocol would have been followed, General Motors would have simply been forced to file for restructuring bankruptcy, and then would have been allowed to spin off the assets into a viable company or companies, getting rid of the things that have brought her to her knees. Wagoner is just the latest fall guy in this administration’s plan for Nationalization.
Why was the bankruptcy protocol not followed in this case? Why wasn’t the head of the U.A.W. fired. Could it be that the U.A.W. put undo pressure on the administration so they would not lose their lucrative contracts. The U.A.W. was a chief backer of the Obama administration during the election, could this be a payback? The United States Government has no business interfering with the operations of a private company. G.M. is still a private corporation owned by its stock holders. The loans they received should be treated no different then the mortgage on your house. Even though the government may have a stake in your mortgage they do not have the right to tell you how to run your household. The firing of Wagoner will send ripples of fear, through out the industrial complex as well as the stock market for months. This takes us one step closer to total failure of our system, a position needed to finish the Nationalization of American business.
Do you realize, my fellow Americans, who you have put in charge? Lets look at the cast of characters; Obama, tutored under the farthest left instructors in America, and he had the most liberal voting record in the Senate. Biden, a stumbling party hack, who wouldn’t be able to get in the way of the change. Emmanuel, the author of “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” Geithner, a member of the same group who caused this problem, and a person who couldn’t even file his taxes correctly. Holder, the man who says we shouldn’t be allowed to have guns. Pelosi, the wackiest leftist in the House, an advocate of everything from same sex marriage to nationalization of the banks, except the one that StarKist Tuna banks with. Reid, the worse kind of party hack imaginable. He has filled his coffers and that of his families, with questionable land deals in Southern Nevada. Robert Reiche, the man who actually stated that the government should control who gets the infra structure jobs, it was his point that White Professionals be omitted from the bids.
You asked for change America, but is this a change you can handle, a change to Socialism or Communism? The next big move will be towards the big banks and the oil companies, gee what about Boeing. Then who knows, maybe a bill to allow a president to stay in for life. You gave him the votes to pull it off, so don’t be alarmed when he does it. Does the name Hugo Chavez mean anything to you yet?
When the economy comes crashing down in its final death throws, the government will come to the rescue. The Nationalization of big business, the oil companies and the financial institutions, will be the final step in the Socialization of America. You will then be in the hands of the cast of characters depicted above. Heaven help those who have built this country on free enterprise. They will fall the hardest.
Our government should be concerned about what is going on in Russia, regarding the large build up of the military establishment. It is their announced goal to control the Arctic zone at the top of the world. Why you ask? Ask any geologist about the oil reserves under the Arctic Circle. Our American liberals won’t even allow us to drill in Anwar, but they won’t have a say when the Russians pour billions, into the Arctic exploration. The future economy of the world will be decided by who owns the most oil, and has the largest military to back it up.