GM to Become the Soul of Discretion

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

Well, that’s how the Freep puts it. So will GM be leaving the toilet seat down? Will it apply for a separate credit card to pay for its extramarital liaisons? Will it be hiding its Playboy inside the latest Economist? Want to clear this up for us, CFO Ray Young? “As a privately held company, it’s likely we’re not going to disclose information except to the shareholders,” says Young. “We do not have to file all of the same documents that we do when we are a public company,” clarifies Chairman Kent Kresa. All of which creates more mind-benders than Will Shortz on a weeklong acid bender.

First, how is a company that is majority owned by the government in any way private? Second, why are taxpayers being stiffed for info when, without their “reluctant ownership,” GM would be wallowing in the ash heap of history right now? Third, if Kresa isn’t lying when he says “I am sure that we will continue to be very transparent as a company, we have always been transparent and will continue to be that way,” why make this announcement at all? Fourth, where does the Freep get off calling this apparent travesty a case of mere “discretion?” Fifth, private? Huh?

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Wsn Wsn on Jun 03, 2009

    Is GM violating SEC laws by not sending shareholder (i.e. every tax payer) voting sheets? I never received mine for the restructure plan or for changing the CEO. Should shareholders file a class action lawsuit?

  • "scarey" "scarey" on Jun 03, 2009

    GM violating SEC laws ? I'm Shocked ! that everyone else's rules don't apply to the govt ! Shysters running GM/Chryco will only prolong the agony (for the taxpayers). After the BIG CRASH, the next sound you hear will be a World War. How else can Uncle Sugar get out of all this debt ?

  • Ronnie Schreiber Ronnie Schreiber on Jun 03, 2009

    I know this is counterintuitive but as owners of a company that is not publicly traded at this point, taxpayers shouldn't want the company's proprietary information revealed. FWIW, stockholders of publicly traded companies aren't privy to those companies' secrets.

  • Dave M. Dave M. on Sep 09, 2009
    Government Motors? Why not DM - Democrat Motors? As someone who voted for Bush twice (and Obama once), let me say it was under Bush when this ball started rolling. A set of extraordinary circumstances ultimately put GM in a very precarious position.....9/11, Keep America Rolling, Emloyee Sale, Do-nothing Board....just to name a few; add in their extreme lack of vision and product planning, and generations of folks who refuse to buy GM product regardless of how good it is (like me), and there you have it. As much as I don't agree with the bailout, I think Obama chose the lesser of two economic evils. I hardly blame him.
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