Dan Akerson is an Obama man,
Dan Akerson is an Obama man, and the GM bailout is the only item Obama can brag about after one term in office. In retrospect, the GM bailout was more about saving UAW health benefits, wages, and retirement than saving GM. As the president demonstrated time and time again, he could care less about corporations’ (even automotive corporations) unless there was some nice caviar in the bailout for the administration. With unlimited taxpayer money at the president’s disposal, saving 99% of the UAW brothers’ (a large organized voting block) wages and benefits was a no brainer. The icing on the bailout cake, is that the bailout of GM would help Obama carry the northern industrial states.
With GM bragging about record profits, the possibility of billions in losses to taxpayers has been an thorn in the Obama administration’s side. Especially after published news reports regarding the exceptional treatment of the UAW. The cost (or potential loss) to the taxpayers for GM bailout, per a study by the Heritage Foundation, is just about equal to the bailout of benefits and wages of the UAW.
Now the Obama administration is under election year pressure to reduce the loss of the GM bailout. The best way to begin limiting the taxpayers loss from the GM bailout for voting taxpayers is to pick off the low hanging fruit of salary and retiree benefits and wages. Therefore, I suspect that Obama’s marching orders to Dan Akerson is to reduce the taxpayer loss and taxpayers criticism of the GM bailout by increasing the value of the stock. What could be a better way to increase the value of GM’s stock then by gutting the benefits of an unorganized and frighten group of salary retirees and employees.