I also like;  “Baby you can build my car” as a subtitle.. 

When you read the article note; one of the largest “debts” that GM has is a Union Contractual obligation.  Now, do you think that the Dems want GM go bankrupt and break the union? NO WAY.  While I do believe that GM is a bureaucratic nightmare and needs a huge overhaul, do you believe that Congress is the best business advisor for them?  Try to think of any of their successes managing anything.    I’d probably say no, get a court appointed manager and get the federal administration out of it. FF

GMs CEO Wagoner Forced to Resign

By TOM KRISHER and DAN STRUMPF, AP Auto Writers Tom Krisher And Dan Strumpf, Ap Auto Writers – Mon Mar 30, 5:26 pm ET

DETROIT – Time and time again, General Motors Corp.’s board of directors reaffirmed its support for Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner, even as the company piled up billions of dollars in losses and begged for government loans to stay alive.

But Wagoner is now a high-profile casualty of government intervention, forced out as part of the Obama administration’s sweeping last-ditch effort to save the century-old auto giant.

Wagoner, 56, who spent 32 years with GM working all over the world, stepped down effective immediately, the company said in a statement early Monday. He was replaced as CEO by Fritz Henderson, the company’s vice chairman and chief operating officer.

GM board member Kent Kresa, a former chairman and CEO of Northrop Grumman Corp., was named interim chairman and said new directors will make up the majority of GM’s board when a new slate is nominated for election at the company’s annual meeting in August.

“The board has recognized for some time that the company’s restructuring will likely cause a significant change in the stockholders of the company and create the need for new directors with additional skills and experience,” Kresa said in a written statement.

GM shares tumbled 92 cents, or 25.4 percent, to $2.70 Monday. That is down 89 percent from their 52-week high of $24.24 on April 30, 2008.

The management shake-up, according to several industry analysts, shows that the administration is serious about forcing GM to change more quickly and dramatically than it did during Wagoner’s nearly nine-year tenure as CEO.

Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive of the automotive Web site Edmunds.com, called the move “political theater” to appease an increasingly bailout-weary public.

“American taxpayers are not happy,” Anwyl said. “But this way you’re able to point to Rick and say he’s gone, and that creates an environment where the loans become politically palatable.”

By all accounts, Wagoner made progress in fixing GM. While CEO, he cut its U.S. work force from 177,000 to roughly 92,000 today.

Wagoner also closed factories; shed the unprofitable Oldsmobile brand; globalized GM’s engineering, manufacturing and design to save billions; and led a resurgence in quality and performance of its long-neglected cars. In 2007, the company reached a landmark agreement with the United Auto Workers that shifted massive retiree health care costs to a union-run trust and ushered in a $14-per-hour wage for new hires, about half that of a current laborer.

But critics, including many members of Congress, say Wagoner moved too slowly, failing to cut enough of the company’s huge health care and pension costs, and relying too long on high-profit pickup trucks and SUVs as gas prices rose and the market shifted toward smaller vehicles.

In the past four years, GM has piled up $82 billion in losses.

Still, Wagoner had the company moving in the right direction, Anwyl said.

“Was he moving fast enough or bold enough? Obviously, in light of what we know today,” Anwyl said, “the answer would be no.”

While ousting Wagoner, the Obama administration made no management changes at Chrysler LLC, which also is getting government loans. Chairman and CEO Robert Nardelli has only been in charge there since August 2007.

Wagoner said in a statement early Monday that he was asked to “step aside” during a meeting with Obama administration officials on Friday, and he consented.

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Face Fwd Comments:

This should scare the holy heck out of everyone that is willing to put some thought to it.  In essence our President fired the CEO of GM.  Yes,  I know the news release said he “steped aside”.  I have been in those “step aside” meetings.  I am pretty sure Rick and Obama’s meeting went something like this.

Obama: Rick come into the office I want to talk about your performance.

Rick: I think we are making progress as we have cut staff and closed plants.  I believe that we are going to turn the corner.

Obama: Well that’s real nice but I don’t think you are turning corners fast enough for me.

Rick: What do you mean?  We are making progress.  I have done everything that you asked when I took the money.

Obama: Yeah well see, it’s not about you Rick it’s about a dream of a government owned car company and I don’t think we’ll need you as I will be assuming control.

Rick: What the….

Obama: Now Rick easy…  I don’t want to fire you and ruin your life and you wouldn’t want your family embarrassed, right?

Rick: I guess, that’s right

Obama: Then why don’t we do this.  I’ll tell everyone it was your idea and you can walk away like a hero.

Rick: but I don’t want to quit I know we can turn the corner.

Obama: Rick, remember your reputation and family.  You wouldn’t want very in depth Tax audit would you or an investigation of anti American activites by every member in your family would you?

Rick: No, I’ll step down.

Obama:  What do think of the name President Goodwrench?

Please consider this:

Barney Frank wants to control salaries and bonuses at companies he choose to control. Tha’s even if they did not take any of the bail out money.  He used the “Working Families Party” (an Affiliate of ACORN) to organize bus loads of paid protestors to visit and harass the AIG executitives families. 

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Obama has said on numerous occasions that there needs to be a level economic playing field for all classes.

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Pelosi in a recent exchange had this to say (she) attacked House Republicans who have criticized President Obama’s proposal to raise taxes on the wealthy to fund his health care plan. If anything, Pelosi said, Obama was being generous. “Quite frankly, I would have done it faster,” she said, noting that the phaseout of top-tier tax breaks will take years to complete.

Salary controls, redistribution of wealth, nationalization of industry all sounds like socialism to me.

 Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.

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A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.

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All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.

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A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned – this is the sum of good government.

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All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

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As our enemies have found we can reason like men, so now let us show them we can fight like men also.

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Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.

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Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.

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For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.

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I am mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, the sale of a book can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too. (read that website) FF

Evidently the criminals crossing the border need directions as well

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Obama on Tuesday vowed to invest the resources needed to address the threat posed by drug traffickers in Mexico.
We are going to continue to monitor the situation, and if the steps we have taken do not get the job done, then we will do more,” he told reporters Tuesday night
He praised the efforts of Mexican President Felipe Calderon to counter drug cartels, which “have gotten completely out of hand,” but said the United States must take further steps, such as ensuring that illegal guns and cash do not flow from north of the Rio Grande to the cartels in Mexico.
That’s what makes them so dangerous,” he said.
Obama’s remarks came hours after Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that the United States is sending hundreds of federal agents and crime-fighting equipment to the border.
The renewed push for stronger law-enforcement presence along the border comes as the administration tries to help the Mexican government break up drug cartels blamed for killing some 6,500 people in Mexico last year, Napolitano said.
“Our role is to assist in this battle because we have our own security interests in its success,” Napolitano said at the White House.”
In an interview with CNN later Tuesday, she said, “It’s all about border safety and security and making sure that spillover violence does not erupt in our own country.”
The new federal plan, developed by the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, calls for doubling the number of border security task force teams and moving a significant number of other federal agents, equipment and resources to the border. It also involves greater intelligence sharing aimed at cracking down on the flow of money and weapons into Mexico that helps fuel the drug trade, senior administration officials said.
The plan commits $700 million to bolster Mexican law enforcement and crime prevention efforts. The funds will provide, among other things, five new helicopters to increase mobility for the Mexican army and air force as well as new surveillance aircraft for the Mexican navy.
The funds also will support enhanced communications technology for Mexican prosecutors, law enforcement and immigration officials.
The $700 million allocation, meant to assist what administration officials described as an “anti-smuggling effort,” will complement ongoing U.S. aid to Mexico under the Merida initiative: a three-year, $1.4 billion package aimed at helping Mexico fight the drug cartels with law enforcement training, military equipment and improved intelligence cooperation.
The money was allocated last year, but Tuesday’s announcement brought the first details of how some of that money will be spent.
Read the Full Article here

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Face Fwd Comments:

They are also sending Hilary down to make sure that we are securing the border. I think we are sending the wrong Clinton. If we sent Bill at least the men would be preoccupied with hiding their daughters and perhaps that would slow down the drug flow coming into the U.S.
When I read the article, I thought I was reading about an entirely different situation than the one that has everyone in the US and especially the Border States worried about. Pardon me, but I don’t think the problem is what is being smuggled south. (US to Mexico) The problem is what is being sent north. That would be Drugs, Illegals, Violence, International Gangs and Kidnapping/Extortion at a level this country has never seen. Did you think that Phoenix has become the kidnapping capital of the US because the Girl Scouts have gotten violent? Jeez-o-peety! People, the problem is that we have large, complex, criminal organizations that are coming north with little or no fear of prosecution from our government.
To My Representatives and to the President I have the following questions:
Where is that wall that was going to be built. Isn’t this a shovel ready project?
What was the real reason behind ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) being told to stop going after illegal aliens?
Why was Janet Napolitano who was well known for support against weak borders, appointed Homeland Sec.?
What is the real reason for the United State propping up the Mexican Government? Are you afraid of a people’s revolt and a Chavez type government cropping up in Mexico?

It is more smoke and mirrors. The pattern is starting to get real familiar. Make plenty of noise, spend a little money, come up with a neat slogan and go on a television with a concerned look on the face and people will believe that something is being done. Once that mission is accomplished, the administration can go back to their original mission, which appears to be nationalizing industry, banks and now newspapers.

On second thought, perhaps Hillary should walk around Phoenix or perhaps El Paso by herself and have her tell us how safe she felt in the barrios.  Maybe she could carry the reset button with her for protection.  Hopefully, she knows how to spell reset in Spanish.

The New Government One Line Policy Guidelines
Copyrighted by FaceFwd.com

If it moves, regulate it

If it works, tax it

If it opposes, squash it

If it underperforms, subsidize it

If it thinks, threaten it

If it prays, outlaw it

If it produces, destabilize it

If it reports, subvert it

If it cares, ridicule it

If it governs, corrupt it

If it votes, buy it

If it questions, ridicule it

If it organizes, illegalize it

If it protests, destroy it

If it teaches, propagandize it

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Face Fwd Comments:

Enjoy!