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Americans have doubts about Government Motors

By: Michael Barone
Senior Political Analyst
07/03/09 11:47 AM EDT

 

                Pollster Scott Rasmussen has the specifics: 80% want the government to sell its majority share of General Motors as soon as possible, 64% favor a law requiring it to be sold within a year—not exactly the government’s timetable, which shows it holding the shares until as late as 2018. Only 26% say the GM bankruptcy deal was a good thing. As Rasmussen notes, GM sales slumped more than expected in June, while Ford sales slumped less than expected.
                On this Fourth of July weekend, it appears that most Americans do not at all like the idea of the government owning and running a major auto company. Yes, I know that President Obama said he has no intention of running GM. But I also know that he told Detroit Mayor Dave Bing that GM’s top executives would continue to operate out of offices in the Renaissance Center in Detroit, not the GM Tech Center in the suburb of Warren. I wonder if Mayor Bing got assurances of when the GM execs would have to punch in on the time clock at the RenCen and how many bathroom breaks they would be required to take in Detroit rather than the suburbs.



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DM

Jul 4, 2009

Polls show that most Michigan residents want Washington out of Detroit as fast as possible too. People here are terrified of the whole thing. I worked at the Ren Cen, in one of the only 24 hour offices GM kept there, and I know what it costs to heat and cool the towers alone. The administration has broken up GM. GM Europe is gone. People seem to have no concept that GM was a huge multinational and will no be much smaller. They will no longer need as much staff at HQ. If it makes sense to move everything into the Tech Center campus, they should. Not pay all the extra payroll tax and baloney in Detroit.

 


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