The Big 3

I was shocked yesterday morning to find that GM CEO Rick Wagoner had resigned, and reading further finding out that it was due to pressure from "the administration". (http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/30/news/companies/gm_bailout/index.htm)
I try to avoid political commentary in this blog, but since when does the government get to decide who the CEO of a publicly traded corporation is? Isn't that the stockholders'/board of directors' job?
In the case of AIG where the federal government has given them huge sums of money (10x what they have LOANED GM for the record) perhaps they have a right to decide who manages the company. But first off GM requested loans which it intends to repay, and secondly just a few weeks ago we were told that 8,000 "earmarks" were ok because it was "only" $7.7bn. I'm surprised congress even noticed the $17bn GM borrowed.

In any event, it is what it is, and I certainly hope GM turns itself around. Personally, I believe it was a good time for Mr. Wagoner to go anyway but it should have been GM's choice not the government's. With the retirement of Bob Lutz and resignation of Wagoner it will be interesting to see how GM handles the upcoming months. Hopefully "Fritz" is up to the job.

On a related note, apparently it's a great time to go buy a new American car. CNN was kind enough to put together a list of undervalued "good" American cars
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/autos/0903/gallery.american_car_deals/index.html
Also released today they'll pay for the car for you (with their negative money apparently) if you lose your job. Or if you get negative equity in the car.
Sounds like a good deal for the consumer, but a big risk on the part of GM, and others offering similar incentives.