Originally Posted By: olivant
Well, the "right" you refer to in your post is as I explained: the federal government feels that its creditor status is best preserved by the departure of the GM head.

Also, the federal government does not have ownership of or an ownership interest in either AIG or Citigroup. In exchange for federal loans, those two companies have pledged a certain amount of their equity as collateral for those loans in case they default on the loan terms. Such equity does not constitute ownership.

I'm not sure what you are referring to by "bringing to bear on GM". The loans to AIG and Citigroup are meant to assist it with meet past finanical liabilities; the loans to GM are meant to assist it with meeting current and future financial liabilities.



The Treasury has 80% of AIG's voting shares; that's ownership.
AIG lost $61 Billion last quarter, more than any company in history. So its liabilities are ongoing.

Short-Term Solutions

When I say "bringing to bear on GM" I am referring to the evident eagerness to force GM to break union and franchise contracts or cut worker salaries with the extreme reluctance to make AIG or other such companies do anything similar.

If Chavez or Putin were forcing out company heads and directing companies to merge , we would be reading numerous editorials in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, etc about the dangers of political control of private companies.

I don't think the President has many good choices to make here. But my major point in all of this is that he (and the Democrats) are taking on a major political risk by getting involved in decision making in the auto industry, a role they've generally avoided in the financial industry.

The double standard is obvious and it stinks. If things turn around by 2010 or 2012, assuming there IS still anyone left working in Michigan, this will mostly be forgiven by Michigan Obama voters. If things haven't rebounded by then and the President is perceived as the man who broke the UAW and wiped out GM/Chrysler while coddling "East Coast bankers" there will be some political consequences.

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."
Winter is Coming

Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.