Donald John “Smart Gut” Trump has blasted General Motors for closing plants and for announcing plans to lay off as many as 15,000 employees as part of a company restructuring.
I laughed when I heard the president declare that the government “saved” GM “and this is the thanks we get.”
Oh, wait! That rescue mission was launched during the first term of President Obama. Do you remember that one? The auto industry was in trouble. The new president got Congress to approve a massive bailout for automakers. The money propped them up, helped preserve them; it saved them from collapse.
Then the automakers paid the government back for the money they received!
I guess what rankles Trump the most is that GM’s decision to lay off those workers turns one of the president’s signature campaign promises into, well, an empty campaign promise.
Technically, the Federal Government did rescue GM. And yes, it was Obama and the U.S Government who made it happen. And yes GM did repay the loan. So was Trump incorrect in stating that the “Government rescued GM.” No he was right. GM is making an economic call based on public buying habits. That’s not the government’s fault, that’s the buyers market. It’s economics, and GM’s late failure in identifying the trend to make adjustments.
But it is GM that’s now closing the plants and laying off thousands of workers workers, not President Trump, not the Republican’s, not the Democrats but GM . So, I don’t care who the President is, he or she has the right to criticize GM for it’s decision.
I hope the 15000 GM workers who will lose their jobs and health benefits will lay the blame directly on GM Management, where it belongs and not the Federal Government.
Actually, George W. Bush made it happen. He saved the auto industry.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/an-inconvenient-truth-it-was-george-w-bush-who-bailed-out-the-automakers