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Americans Ponder Government Role in GM
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Most people in the United States disagree with the government’s decision to save auto-maker General Motors, according to a poll by Opinion Dynamics released by Fox News. 52 per cent of respondents think U.S. president Barack Obama should have let the forces of the market decide the fate of General Motors.
Looking forward, 46 per cent of Americans think the government should exercise its majority ownership of General Motors only by way of issuing recommendations on major decisions. An additional 35 per cent say Washington should let the company executives make all key decisions, and only 16 per cent think the government should run the company completely.
In December 2008, then U.S. president George W. Bush approved a bail-out plan for the country’s two largest auto-makers, providing loans worth $17.4 billion U.S. to General Motors and Chrysler. Bush stated that, under present economic conditions, "Allowing the U.S. auto industry to collapse is not a responsible course of action."
On Jun. 1, General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection. President Obama announced that the U.S. government would make an additional investment of about $30 billion U.S. in General Motors, adding, "We’re making these investments not because I want to spend the American people’s tax dollars, but because I want to protect them. (…) We are acting as reluctant shareholders—because that is the only way to help GM succeed."
On Jun. 16, General Motors sold its Swedish Saab brand to a consortium led by Koenigsegg Automotive. General Motors Europe president Carl-Peter Forster declared: "This is yet another significant step in the reinvention of G.M. and its European operations [and] the best chance for Saab to emerge a stronger company." General Motors’s bankruptcy filing did not include its European operations.
Polling Data
The federal government now owns a majority of General Motors. How involved do you think the government should be in key management decisions at the company? Should the government:
|
Make recommendations about key decisions |
46% |
|
Stay out and let auto executives make the decisions |
35% |
|
Make key management decisions itself and tell auto executives what to do |
16% |
|
Don’t know |
3% |
Do you think it was in the country’s best interest for the government to save General Motors or should the government have let the market determine whether GM survives?
|
Government should have let market decide |
52% |
|
In the country’s best interest to save GM |
44% |
|
Don’t know |
4% |
Source: Opinion Dynamics / Fox News
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 900 American registered voters, conducted on Jun. 9 and Jun. 10, 2009. Margin of error is 3 per cent.
