SIGTARP: Excessive Pay at Bailed-Out GM

 A special inspector general report on compensation for executives at General Motors and Ally Financial blasts the Treasury Department for allowing excessive pay at the companies as taxpayers lost billions of dollars on the auto bailouts. The watchdog group issuing the report monitors the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which was set up to save financial corporations deemed "too big to fail" due to systemic risk to America's financial system. The program was expanded to allow for the bailing out of the auto industry, despite the questionable use of funds specifically designated for financial institutions.

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YOU DECIDE: Take the poll at Studio B

FOX NEWS POLL, STUDIO B with Shepard Smith - "Would you be upset if GM used taxpayer money on its operations overseas?" Let Shep know how you feel. Take the poll. Read More......

RNC Statement on President Obama’s PAYGO Legislation

WASHINGTON - Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele released the following statement today:

“President Obama and congressional democrats telling Americans they are committed to budget discipline is like Charles Ponzi telling people to trust him with their money. No one should believe that the political party that brought us a $787 billion stimulus bill that hasn't created any jobs, a $3.5 trillion budget, a $50 billion bankruptcy bailout for GM and a record $1.8 trillion budget deficit this year will cut spending on anything but our national defense to achieve PAYGO requirements. That means the Democrats' dirty little secret is that they will raise taxes on families even more to give the illusion that they are committed to budget discipline. Americans shouldn't be fooled by today's latest Ponzi scheme from the white house. But they would be wise to hold onto their wallets.”

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Will Obama Break His Promise not to Run GM?

Or is [it] just that Congress didn't get the message? Read more at ProfessorBainbridge.com...

Read also: "GM = Amtrak?" at ProfessorBainbridge.com... Read More......

NYT: The 31-Year-Old in Charge of Dismantling G.M.

NEW YORK TIMES, 5/31/2009 by David E. Sanger, WASHINGTON — It is not every 31-year-old who, in a first government job, finds himself dismantling General Motors and rewriting the rules of American capitalism. ∴ But that, in short, is the job description for Brian Deese, a not-quite graduate of Yale Law School who had never set foot in an automotive assembly plant until he took on his nearly unseen role in remaking the American automotive industry. Read more at the NYT... Read More......

UAW says equity stake ties union to GM success

REUTERS, 2/28/2009 by Kevin Krolicki - DETROIT: The United Auto Workers will emerge from a General Motors Corp restructuring as the second-largest stockholder in the reorganized automaker and with a more direct stake in its success, union President Ron Gettelfinger said on Thursday. Read More......

Kyl Warns Obama Administration Not to Fire Bank CEOs

(Update1)
BLOOMBERG, 5/8/2009 by James Rowley - A leading Senate Republican warned the Obama administration against removing chief executive officers at banks that received U.S. assistance, saying “the great fear” would be government management of companies. ∴ “If you think that Washington can run car companies and banks and so on, well, then you’ve not been paying attention to how we’ve been doing back here,” Senator Jon Kyl said of the Treasury’s threat of management changes at banks getting “exceptional” aid. Last month, the administration forced out General Motors Corp. CEO Rick Wagoner as a condition for more U.S. aid. Read more at Bloomberg... Read More......