President Obama is certainly bringing change to the auto industry in his First 100 Days. But will he be as bold with the banking industry? Americans like RebelMom want to know if the change being driven through the auto industry dead-ends at the corner of Wall Street.
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Dear Mr. Obama,
I just saw that you recommended that the CEO of General Motors to step down and resign from his post. That is a commendable thing to do especially in the light of how he has mishandled the company that my husband has worked for the last 13-14 years. The stories my husband has shared with me has definitely soured me on the whole automotive industry. I won't bore you with them.
However, I do have a question. Why is it that you've asked Wagoner to step down, but not the head of the banks that asked for the bailouts back in October? It's not enough that you told them to return the bonuses. Really, it isn't. I have not quite understood why everyone is so scared to run off the bankers' CEOs and tell them to step down ... they're the ones who got us in this mess in the first place. And yet, there is no hesitation for people to call for the head of the guy who is in charge of a company that hires both blue-collar workers AND white collar workers.
As far as I am concerned, all of the CEOs of those asking for a bailout (read that very carefully please, just the CEOs of AIG, American Bank, Citibank, Chase Mortgage, Chrysler, GM, etc.) can all take a hike and should be charged with corruption and greed. They should be fined and pay back the bailout money that they've stolen from companies that really needed it and could use it.
So, yes, you did the right thing about asking Wagoner to step down, but I am afraid, that it is not enough. We need more action. We need more fairness and non-partisanship in your office and in congress. There are hundreds of million families that depend on General Motors to succeed and so far, there haven't been any jobs promised to us showing up. I realize a lot of it has to do with the nonstop bickering in congress and naturally, the media isn't going to report anything that resembles the truth.
Mr. Obama, I am getting very discouraged and very disheartened by the current state of affairs these days. I am not saying that it is your fault because it isn't. Goodness knows that you're not getting a lot of support from congress nor from the mainstream media. But it is getting harder to even find the smallest scrap of encouragement that we're being listened to.
Reading that while you've asked Wagoner to step down and replacing him with someone who may end up firing my husband because "it's just beneficial to the company's survival," with no regards to the fact that he and many other employees have worked their tails off for a company that does not value human life. And Mr. Obama, we have looked. There are no jobs out there.
Please explain to us why you're doing the right thing with GM, but not with the bankers. After all, they drove the country to its knees and everyone's feeling sorry for them, but not for the ordinary people who just want to live to raise their families.
Sincerely,
Rebel Mom
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