Government Overseer

Just days after GM's CEO Rick Wagoner was forced out by the Obama administration, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner left open the possibility that such moves could happen again.

Geithner acknowledged the government has had to do "exceptional things" – citing AIG as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

"We have changed management aboard," he said. "And where we've done that, we've done it because we thought that was necessary to make sure these institutions emerge stronger in the future."

When asked if he would leave open the option to pressure a bank CEO to resign, Geithner replied: "Of course."
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Mr. Geithner, will you also be taxing Mr. Emmanuel 90% on the bonuses he received for his month of work at Fannie Mae? What about the Congress and the bonuses they got?

When will you start applying that same pressure to Congress? Will you pressure Barney Frank or Chris Dodd to leave after managing our government poorly, creating massive deficits, and nearly reducing our treasury bonds to junk status? How many of GM's, AIG, or the housing bubble problems were caused because of government intervention/legislation?

And when does President Obama or Tim Geithner ask the president of the UAW to resign as well? If you're going to meddle with GM's business, why not make it fair and equitable as well? I already know the answer to that question - but when the UAW continues to fight changes, and GM is forced into bankruptcy protection, labor will be (eh, it should be) the first to lose. Labor simply has no collateral to stand on in bankruptcy court. Perhaps they're assuming that the Union dues payers aren't aware of their lack of a barganing position? Hey, call up a retired United Airline Pilot's Union member how bankruptcy helped their pensions. Oh, right - the goverment had to bail them out.

What's confusing for me is that I thought Mr. Obama ran for President so that he would fix the problems in the government? You know, that big nasty evil George Bush? He asked for that job. He got elected for that job. So after 65 days, why does Mr. Obama spend his time meddling with private business?

Why did he demand GM to cut 11/22 profitable car models from production? Should Mr. Wagoner have resigned or been asked to step down? It should have come from the shareholders, to whom he is accountable, not from the President of the United States or the government. Even after accepting the government loan guarantees - the government stepped over the line. They're re-writing the rules that they don't know how to play. The bail out looks like Calvinball.

Now, by stirred up populist demand, there are CEO's that took bail out money working for $1 A year. Don't you think that the President, and the Congress should also be willing to lead by such an elevated example and standard to do their jobs for $1 a year too? And in an act of solidaridy with their constituants, also do their jobs with no benefits? No. More likely, Congress'll probably just vote themselves another pay increase. Again.

It isn't too late to work on making government leaner, meaner and greener before attacking and criticizing private business. What if he started by holding government accountable to the taxpayers, first? There's a big, deep hole. That hole has been there for 40 years. The job is not to dig a deeper hole, but to get out of that hole! Think of the political gain? They'd be able to shut down the Republicans AND shut Rush Limbaugh up at the same time! Huzzah!

There was a brief moment where Mr. Obama could have ended the hypocrisy and double standards in government. Talk about a missed opportunity. If only he had cleaned his house first, before worrying about the mess in mine or my neighbor's. Lead first, set an example, the rest of us will follow with the Changes.