Monday, June 01, 2009

Romney Balks at Government Ownership of GM

With dozens of headlines surrounding General Motors and their bankruptcy filing, Republican leader Mitt Romney spoke to the Detroit News on how the government should handle the auto marker’s restructuring. Check out the article below.

The Obama administration and the United Auto Workers should immediately distribute their stock in a restructured GM to American taxpayers, former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Sunday.

"We don't want a president and the head of the UAW running General Motors," Romney, a Michigan native and son of former Gov. George Romney, said in an appearance on "Fox News Sunday."

Romney suggested that the roughly 70 percent of GM that the government could own after it emerges from bankruptcy should be immediately distributed to taxpayers, and the 17.5 percent that will go to a UAW trust fund for retiree healthcare should be handed out to UAW members.

Such a scheme is highly unlikely. The Obama administration has signaled that it wants to sell its stake as soon as possible, but wants to ensure that it recoups as much as possible of the billions of taxpayer dollars already pumped into the company. The UAW is likely to try to maximize the return it receives on its shares to boost its ability to pay for healthcare for retirees.

Romney repeated his criticism of the auto policies followed by both the Bush and Obama administrations, saying GM and Chrysler should have been pushed into a restructuring, either in or out of bankruptcy court, months ago.

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