Why now? GM wants help General Motors’ top man is leaving now in part because the White House made strong hints that they wanted new leadership if the automaker wanted more bailout money. Wagoner has been with the company for over three decades and has been CEO for almost a decade. There’s no word yet as to who the new CEO’s going to be, but we’ll probably learn more later this week. source
Why now? GM wants help General Motors’ top man is leaving now in part because the White House made strong hints that they wanted new leadership if the automaker wanted more bailout money. Wagoner has been with the company for over three decades and has been CEO for almost a decade. There’s no word yet as to who the new CEO’s going to be, but we’ll probably learn more later this week.
A cruddy legacy Wagoner has led GM through some of the more questionable periods of the company’s history – between the fumbled response to Japanese carmakers, the legacy payments to union employees, the over-leaning on SUV’s to save the company’s fortunes and the utter lack of creativity in the company’s vehicles, it’s kind of tough to say what was the one thing that made GM fall so far. source
AIG has become the straw that broke the camel’s back. It pushed people off the edge.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. • On the possibility of another bailout plan getting through Congress. With support of the treasury low and constituent criticism high, Timothy Geithner and Barack Obama may have more luck pushing an elephant through the halls of Congress. • source
We have to continue managing our business as a business – taking account of the cold realities of competition.
AIG CEO Edward Liddy • On why they have to give out the bonuses. Essentially, as was suggested yesterday in this editorial, AIG needs to give out the bonuses to retain their employees. He’s telling this to congress right now, by the way. • source
Under these circumstances, it’s hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay.
Barack Obama • On the bonuses AIG is about to pay its investors. The outrage is heating up by the day, as you might guess; Obama wants his treasury secretary to pursue “every legal avenue” to prevent the bonuses from coming out. • source
