Obama’s Broken Transparency Promise: Government Motors Edition

Posted June 3rd, 2009 at 1.02pm in Enterprise and Free Markets, Rule of Law.

Despite his many promises to the contrary, President Barack Obama has repeatedly failed to bring transparency to the federal government. That failure now continues with the Obama administration’s nationalization of General Motors. The Detroit Free Press reports:

A day after filing for a bankruptcy reorganization that will be largely financed by U.S. taxpayers, General Motors Corp. said the private automaker that emerges from Chapter 11 expects to release less financial information to the public.

“As a privately held company, it’s likely we’re not going to disclose information except to the shareholders,” Ray Young, GM chief financial officer, said Tuesday.

Um, General Motors is now owned by the U.S. taxpayers. The public are shareholders. Not only should Congress force the Obama administration to rid it self of General Motors as fast as possible, but in the meantime they should make sure that GM meets all requirements for public disclosure that would apply to a publicly held company.

Author: Conn Carroll
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4 Comments

June 3, 2009 Whicket Williams Kingsbury Texas, USA writes:

That is correct The public has the right to see everything related to the New company called Government Motors. But At least Obama is being consistant. He has Lied about transparency 100%

June 3, 2009 Larry- The Republic of TEXAS writes:

The only thing transparent about Obama is what HE might call his soul! On second thought that might be a little brakish, and murky, kind of dark-opaque. One thing that IS clear is the fact that if GM had been allowed to file bankruptcy on it’s own,before being scammed/persuaded by Obama Inc., it would have saved the people of this nation billions of dollars and kept this Administration OUT of the automotive controlling business. OH well-HERE we are. I guess that when Obama Inc. makes an offer-don’t refuse it because you won’t be able to afford the repercussions…. Well, even if you accept the offer-you can’t afford the repercussions!!! Don’t you all find it amazingly ironic that Ray Young would specifically choose: “As a privately held company…,” to begin his addressing of the non-disclosure issue? That’s certainly NOT a reassuring statement coming from the CFO-especially him NOT knowing where HIS operating capitol has come from, HUH?

June 3, 2009 Barb -mn writes:

I can’t stand dishonesty. Obama sure is faithful to his religion. He practices his religion at work. Another violation.

June 4, 2009 Jay Daily, Ann Arbor writes:

Government Motors is nothing more than a 21st century WPA for the UAW. There is absolutely no way GM will ever recover and pay back their loans. I doubt they will even pay back a $1B let alone the full amount.

The problem still remains with the unions. Yes, they have made concessions. New hires make considerably less. When was the last time there was a new hire? Michigan has been bleeding auto jobs for years now. Those laid off are called back first so there will never be a new hire. Such a distinguishes compromise.

So it looks like the Obama administration is more than willing to spend $50B of our taxes for union votes. As the unions had no problem bankrupting the companies they worked for, they certainly will have no problem bankrupting the country they live in.

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