General Motors Chief Rick Wagoner Said to Step Down (Correct)

[BeatleBoot]

Source: Bloomberg

March 29 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner will step down after more than eight years running the largest U.S. automaker, people familiar with the situation said.

The people, who asked not to be named because the announcement hasn’t been made, didn’t give a reason why Wagoner, 56, is leaving. Wagoner said as recently as March 19 that he didn’t plan to resign.

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Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a1BaGmyUoHgA&refer=home

[Pirate Smile]

1. Hmmmm. Who will take over?

[Schema Thing]

2. Now how about that idiot Bob Lutz.

[BeatleBoot]

3. My interpretation is bankruptcy - they were supposed to file a plan in DC on Tuesday.

And if that's the case, the country is screwed for a long, long time.

Not to mention the immediate ramifications to my household. And no, no one here works for GM.

[screembloodymurder]

14. He retired.

:)

[midnight armadillo]

4. After GM's great success in 8 years, why would he go?

The people, who asked not to be named because the announcement hasn’t been made, didn’t give a reason why Wagoner, 56, is leaving. Wagoner said as recently as March 19 that he didn’t plan to resign.


I just don't get it, GM's greatly increased marketshare, cleaned up their overlapping product lines, and increased profitability every year under Wagoner. Why would they get rid of him?

[BeatleBoot]

8. Except that the current woes are more to do with tightening credit than product design

In fact, Japanese automakers are facing 4 times the hardship as their American counterparts.

But it is fun to shoot from the hip from the peanut gallery once in a while isn't it?

I know that from personal experience.

[DainBramaged]

21. Save your text, the hypocrites here look for easy targets

I would bet most of them don't even know how to check their own oil! :toast:

[BeatleBoot]

58. No shit that!

:toast:

[midnight armadillo]

28. Please.

By all means, explain how Rick Wagoner's tenure as head of GM has had any tangible benefit. Marketshare? Profits? Aside from the occasional cool Corvette and maybe the latest Malibu, how about notable products? Shall I run down the list of uncompetitive GM products to hit the road in the last 8 years?

I am a disappointed GM owner. That company's got all the engineering and design talent it needs to succeed in the marketplace, and some of the most productive factories on the planet. Too bad their apparently inflexible and ossified corporate culture and incompetent bean-counting, re-badging obsessed management failed them.

[CRF450]

5. I'd rather see Lutz go than Wagoner.

[StercusAccidit]

15. Lutz

He's practically gone. IIRC, he's stepping down from his current post at the beginning of April, and retiring at the end of the year.

[Zorro]

6. Reportedly at the behest of the Obama administration

Interesting if true.

[BeatleBoot]

7. MSNBC now reports just that. Obama administration asked him to resign.

Maybe this means the government is taking over GM.

Interesting times we are living in.

[Rage for Order]

18. If this is true, then Obama will rise or fall with GM

If the administration has a hand in who the CEO won't be, then I'm sure they'll also have a say in who the CEO will be. Justified or not, GM will be viewed as being run by the government, more specifically by the Obama administration. GM will be the most visible marker of the stimulus/bailout, and I think as GM goes, so goes Obama's approval ratings. I'm not convinced that this was a wise move, if it's true.

[FudaFuda]

29. Hadn't considered that angle.

Quite a gamble when you look at it like that. But I remember the same kind of things being said about Reagan when they kinda-sorta bailed out Chrysler and Harley back in the early 80's. Republicans like to forget about Reagan doing that. I was too young too appreciate it at the time, but the subsequent success seen by both of those companies, especially Harley, probably reflected very postively with voters at the time. Hope this works out much the same for Pres. Obama.

[metapunditedgy]

9. Using "AIG Math", Wagoner should be given a big bonus!

GM stock only dropped by a factor of 20 this year from its highs in 2007...

[Pirate Smile]

10. AIG got a new boss for $1 a year. Who is going to get the top GM job now? Any guesses?

[Gin]

12. the news just said he turned in his keys...so he is out

[madrchsod]

11. gm has the products but no one has the money to buy..

most of their product quality is as good or better than the japanese,product line mpg average better than any car assembler,all electric car is waiting for batteries and buyers,and the largest number of hydrogen fueled vehicles operating today.

gm has the products that people want.

[rollingrock]

16. If GM is so great

then why are they already on their knees AGAIN begging the government for another multi-billion dollar bailout? They'd be out of business if not for massive amounts of taxpayer dollars that is propping them up.

If they are 'too big to fail' then they are too big to exist. Let the dinosaurs go under and allow better run companies like Ford et al to take up the slack. That's how the competitive marketplace is supposed to work. Quit artificially propping up these failed zombie banks and zombie car companies. They do nothing but suck up the public treasury until dry.

[rhett o rick]

19. Awww if only life were so easy. You see the thieves have already stolen

the treasure. To allow GM to collapse will only hurt the workers now. Like AIG, they have a trillion dollars of legitimate insurance business. Their execs were allow to steal all their money. To "just let them go broke" won't hurt the thieves and won't help the people with the one trillion of insurance. The government needs to nationalize GM and AIG.

I do agree that we need to stop the limitless bailouts that have no provisions for what to do with the company.

[ingac70]

20. Other nations are handing over cash to their car companies...

Toyota has already hit Japan up for $2 billion.

[DainBramaged]

23. Shhhhhh, you aren't supposed to let them know the Japanese are vulnerable

[blue_onyx]

24. Yesterday I had a dicussion with someone on DU

who basically said the only reason Toyota went to the Japanese government for money was because GM went to the US government first. GM asked for government assistance so Toyota figured they might as well ask too, even though they didn't really need the money (that was his "theory"). Some people will say anything to defend Toyota.

[DainBramaged]

25. And one of the reason this country is in the shitter

They will defend their Japanese masters, and shit on American jobs and manufacturing.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

30. yes, its called reciprocity

In large industries, especially globalized ones when a manufacturer in one nation gets some sort of aid, subsidy, tax incentive, tariff or duty or whatever their competitors will go to their own jurisdiction and demand the same treatment, either in retaliation or in the name of "remaining competitive"

And most governments fall for it,

[BeatleBoot]

59. That must be why GM's CFO endorsed John F. Kerry for President

He wanted National Health Care in the U.S.

To remove a competitive disadvantage and maybe he was just a decent human being, to boot.

[rollingrock]

26. 2 billion is a pittance

compared to what GM is asking for.

[Brucie Kibbutz]

31. Why are they on their knees again begging?

Because nobody is buying cars.

[DainBramaged]

22. If the banks open up the coffers, things will improve.

But the peanut gallery here will ignore GM and look for that used 15 year old Subaru or Honda with a quarter million miles on it and tell us how great a car it is and cost them nothing to repair since they got it.

[underpants]

13. WOW what ever will they do now?

:sarcasm:

[shaniqua6392]

17. Nardelli over at Chrysler should do the same thing.

That company is going down the shitter and he gets a brand new fully loaded car to drive last week and he doesn't have to pay a thing for it. Don't ask me how I know this....I just know. LOL!!

[tomm2thumbs]

27. Don't forget to ask Michael Steele - he seems to fall into traps quite easily

He'll say 'SURE' and then fall right in and then a year later go 'Uh, what just happened...?'

[whopis01]

32. GM CEO resigns at Obama's behest

Source: Politico

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

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. The plan is based on recommendations from the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry, headed by the Treasury Department.

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

"We are anticipating an announcement soon from the Administration regarding the restructuring of the U.S. auto industry. We continue to work closely with members of the Task Force and it would not be appropriate for us to speculate on the content of any announcement," the company said.The surprise announcement about the classically iconic American corporation is perhaps the most vivid sign yet of the tectonic change in the relationship between business and government in this era of subsidies and bailouts.

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

[saltpoint]

33. dupe

[Kolesar]

39. link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3806155

[CTyankee]

34. thank god. I have hope GM will survive. Let this guy go and let Obama's people

completely restructure our automotive industry. I'm all in favor...and it saves jobs...

[defendandprotect]

36. Let's just take over the auto plants and the workers and start building electric cars . . .!!!

Ousting this guy is a step in the right direction . . . .

[CTyankee]

37. Oh geez, I hope so. I have a little chunk of money in Gm preferred stock.

I don't want to be left out in the cold...

[Rage for Order]

40. Which Obama people would those be?

What members of Obama's administration have decades of experience in the automobile industry? :shrug:

[CTyankee]

57. You know, all that experience in the auto industry has led us where?

Sure, there's experience and at some levels you WILL need to have people from the industry. But some of the real decision makers, the people who kept building cars that no one was buying and weren't on the cutting edge of energy consciousness, I have no problem with getting rid of them.

One thing is sure: we need an auto industry in this country. We have the factories in place and the workforce in place, poised ready for taking over and bringing newer ideas into play. We can do this.

[WriteDown]

55. Actually, this may not be a good thing....

I met Wagoner down in Wilmington, NC years ago. We were both attending a speech at the college down there. He put up a big screen with almost every GM sedan, but all in the same paint color. They all looked bland and identical regardless if it was Cadillac, Buick, Oldsmobile, etc. He was trying to make a point how GM had to evolve and he seemed to "get" it. I always thought he must've met some pretty stiff resistance after that point.

[JudyInTheHeartland]

35. Step 1...

Finally.

Maybe NOW we can get on with the real work of canceling GM's bonuses/reducing excessive compensation, firing GM's lobbyists, restarting the electric car project and protecting health care/pension funds.

[msongs]

38. obama should ask osama bin laden to resign and we can get out of afghanistan :-) nt

[Fiendish Thingy]

41. Now if they could get some Banking/Finance CEO's to step down as well...

or better yet, put some of 'em in jail, along with predatory lenders and their ilk.

[GinaMaria]

42. Wish Obama and his admin would ask a few more people to step down

After the AIG thieves, maybe he could ask my boss' boss to take a flying leap? Can't help it. I have the Sunday evening blues. Why are weekends so short?

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Skittles]

44. LOL

eight years of boosh and cheney and you're now recognizing fascism - in OBAMA? :rofl:

[Historic NY]

45. What do you want on the pizza?

[Jennicut]

50. LMAO! Like secret depts to spy and kill people we did not like was under Obama

[tomm2thumbs]

46. he asked, the guy agreed - perfectly simple... can he try it with Boehner & Cantor just to see ???

we got nuffin' to lose by trying it!

[Historic NY]

47. Perhaps they have someone down the chain that gets it, leadership..

the old ways aren't working for them.

[Mr. Hyde]

48. Yet he gives the bank CEOs millions to keep doing business as usual. What's up with that?

[Mithreal]

49. Too big to fail and bank gambling is the US economy. nt

[Mr. Hyde]

51. he's buying more of the same then? It's throwing good money after bad IMO.

and perpetuating/enabling the bad behaviors and insane economic policies that got us into this mess. He is not promoting change we can believe in. Not one bit. And yet we're giving him unquestioning support for it? Quashing dissent and stiffling any question of his direction and policies? Laughing about the marijuana legalization issue; tax payer funded million dollar bonuses to millionaires; reversing his position on gays in the military; and worst of all, perpetuating trickle down economic policies. WTF?

[grahamhgreen]

52. Now can we have a car that gets 65mpg like the Honda CRX did in the 90's? However -

is Obama busting unions? (I don't think so.....)

[Romulox]

53. Any idea why HONDA doesn't make a CRX like it did in the '90s?

Use basic logic, please! :hi:

[grahamhgreen]

60. Oh that's right, we subsidized gas guzzlers at the behest of big auto/oil...

[Eugene]

54. Reuters: GM, Chrysler rocked by Obama autos team hard line

Source: Reuters

GM, Chrysler rocked by Obama autos team hard line
Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:50am EDT

By John Crawley and Helen Massy-Beresford

WASHINGTON/PARIS (Reuters) - The Obama
administration seized the wheel of the failing
U.S. auto industry on Monday, forcing out General
Motors Corp's CEO, pushing Chrysler LLC toward a
merger and threatening bankruptcy for both.

GM shares plunged around 20 percent in Frankfurt
after steps outlined by the White House autos
panel marked a stunning reversal for management
at both GM and private equity-owned Chrysler.

-snip-

The Obama administration pledged only to fund
GM's operations for the next 60 days while it
develops a sweeping restructuring plan, instead
of granting GM's request for up to a further
$16 billion in loans.

GM CEO Rick Wagoner, who had presided over the
company's rapid decline in the past five years
and had run the automaker since 2000, was
forced out at the request of the autos panel
headed by former investment banker Steve Rattner.
A majority of GM's board will also be replaced.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-autos/idUSTRE52S1VV20090330

[Ian David]

56. Rick Wagoner is Resigning To Spend More Time Denying Global Warming with his Family. n/t