Running on Empty

According to the government, GM's Rick Wagoner was forced to resign because of poor performance. That’s embarrassing. You run an organization that loses billions of dollars and then get fired by a guy who heads up an organization that loses trillions of dollars.
--Jay Leno

Reaching your hand out to the government at a time of crisis has can have lasting and extreme consequences, as General Motors (GM:NYSE) recently found out. CEO Rick Wagoner was forced to resign, or fired, by President Barack Obama. Since when does Obama, who would not know a Plymouth Barracuda from Mercury Comet, think he can run a car company better than 30 year GM veteran Wagoner? Obama called the GM recovery plans insufficient. Perhaps Obama failed to read the status report GM submitted. With the Congress in charge, I feel much better.
The Obama administration has crossed the line in this regard in my opinion, and I am not alone. "They have opened Pandora's box -- the U.S. government has decided they know better than the private company," said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) "There is no question that this country is moving down a very different and foreign path. We have crossed this threshold: We own this company and we are telling it what to do." Amen brother!

I think the Obama administration, which has spoken publicly that GM does not "build cars people want," wanted to grab GM under the "crisis" to expand their ideas via the GM platform that America wants hybrid, small vehicles similar to the European model. This is nonsense. We don't! We want real cars for real guys, like Chevy Trucks, SUV's and Camaros.

As I have written about extensively, particularly HERE and HERE, General Motors has made great strides recently, and the 2010 Chevy Volt is a home run in waiting.FORMER GM CEO RICK WAGONER PICTURED WITH THE 2010 CHEVROLET VOLT

On April Fools Day yesterday, a rumor from Car and Driver discussed how President Obama had ordered GM and Chrysler to cease NASCAR operations at the conclusion of the current season. It bordered reality so closely, it was removed from the web. Investors Business Daily editorialized about it. If true, now that would indeed be a line in the sand that would pack out every tax day tea party from south Florida to Idaho. I almost wish it were true, for Obama's days in the Oval Office would definitely be numbered, as they should be anyhow.