Bailout

Will GM’s CEO Survive the Bailout?

Calls for Wagoner’s resignation.

Is GM Chairman and CEO Richard Wagoner finished? "If you're going to restructure, you've got to bring in a new team to do this," Sen. Chris Dodd said yesterday. "I think [Mr. Wagoner] has to move on." Barack Obama also called for the "moving on" of any CEO who "is not willing to make the tough choices and adapt to these new circumstances." Some of Wagoner's allies, like UAW president Ron Gettelfinger, are not expected to rush to his defense. Dodd and other Democrats are hoping for a vote on new bailout legislation that was hashed out over the weekend as soon as Tuesday. The bailout would provide the companies with $15 billion of short-term financing, which would carry them through March. The bill would also create a seven-person "auto board" of Cabinet officials and a chairman chosen by President Bush, which would hold the auto companies accountable for every transaction of $25 million or more.