I took the title for this post from the AP article appearing in the Muncie Star Press. It amused me because it made the auto makers sound like Little Bunny Foo Foo and, by implication, Obama as The Good Fairy. Yes, I’m easily amused — I laugh a lot.
Apparently GM & Chrysler’s latest bailout plans were insufficient and the White House has given them another chance to justify another round of federal tax dollars. Chrysler seems to have an additional 30 days to complete a merger with Fiat or face a complete sell-off. For GM, the first step was CEO Rick Wagoner stepping down under pressure from the White House. They’ll have 60 days to come up with something acceptable to the feds following a major shakeup in management.
Fritz Henderson, GM’s president and chief operating officer, became the new CEO, the company said in a statement released early Monday. Board member Kent Kresa, the former chairman and CEO of defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp., was named interim chairman of the GM board.
In a major management shake-up, new directors will make up the majority of GM’s board, the statement said. The directors who will be replaced have not yet been named.
. . .
Administration officials still believe GM’s chances are good, given its global brand and its research potential. Officials say they are confident GM can put together a plan that will keep production lines moving in the coming years. They planned to send a team to Detroit to help with that restructuring.
I think the good fairy is too late – somebody already turned them into a goon…
One of Reagan’s jokes was that the most frightening words in the English language are:
Obviously I do not want hundreds of thousands of people to lose their jobs.
Yet I keep thinking how much of this would not have happened if the Big Three had taken a hint 30+ years ago about what kinds of car Americans want?