GM CEO Joins 69 Tycoons at White House Love-In

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

Automotive News reports that GM CEO Rick Wagoner tagged-along with 69 other working stiffs to hear President Barack Obama put his entire hope-and-change spiel in a single, pre-written sentence.

“We must build this recovery on a foundation that lasts — on a 21st Century infrastructure and a green economy with lower health care costs that creates millions of new jobs and new industries; on schools that prepare our children to compete and thrive; on businesses that are free to invest in the next big idea or breakthrough discovery,” Obama said in remarks released by the White House.

Uh-oh. Isn’t that whole “next big thing” thing the thing that allowed GM to avoid making the hard decisions that would have prevented its $30 gazillion dollar call on the public purse?

And while you’re pondering that, riddle me this Batman: considering that Red Ink Rick has face planted the artist formerly known as the world’s most profitable company, what would you say is Wagoner’s “thing”? Given Obama’s post love-in small talk, it’s no small thing. “In an offhand comment, Obama told the Roundtable he doesn’t want government controlling the economy. ‘I want you guys to do your thing,’ he said.”

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • Rastus Rastus on Mar 13, 2009

    Please don't glorify it by calling it a "Patriot" Act...or a "Stimulus" Package... Simplifying things enables one to sell something...and believe it or not, it does sell. Take a negative and give is a nice glossy title, ...take slavery and package it as as an "investment"...and well, you have 90% of Americans nodding their heads up and down. As far as being down on my luck...I found out today after work (via email) that I'm being terminated tomorrow. Am I drinking???? Hell no....I'm feeling pretty damn good. Gonna take the POS Chevy for a road trip...check out the Black Hills area in Springtime.... The sooner I put 200K on the POS the sooner I get to buy a new Toyota :) Have a good night. Slavery - Bad. Economic Freedom - Good.

  • PeteMoran PeteMoran on Mar 13, 2009

    Debt is OK as long as you invest it in Productive Things. The private sector does it all the time. Those can be infrastructure (ports, energy), people (education/health) or research. The private sector won't do any of the above for the moment, so Government's can and should, attempt to grow the productive economy. Along the way, you might have to prevent the 'value' of private 'assets' cratering as might have occurred should the financially irresponsible US financial institutions been allowed to fail. For that, the US taxpayer has an equity 'investment' in those institutions; you'll get it back, sometime. Obama is way a better chance than the last guy, and the somewhat-conservative-Republican 'party' is proceeding to eat itself, as it damn well should.

  • Cleek Cleek on Mar 13, 2009
    @PeterMoran The problem isn't borrowing for investment in "Productive Things". It is properly determining what is truly productive and pricing risk accordingly. Market mechanisms have proven to be the best arbitrator, not central planning. It doesn't matter if risk is being priced by AIG, GWB or BHO. If it is wrongly priced, the effect is the same. Printing money (i.e effectively devaluing the currency) to prop up the "value of private assets" will not increase the real value of the assets. It just makes those assets as well as every other thing more valuable relative to the currency so you get a higher price -- for everything. The US Taxpayer will get return. It will just be worth much less.
  • Njoneer Njoneer on Mar 13, 2009

    GM has no leader. Decisions are primarily based on the way thing were done in the past. Sure, a GM lifer sits in the CEO chair, but the company is so big and old, it really just runs itself.

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