GM Putty Being Formed Into Early Political Model

One of the fiercest arguments against the automaker bailout was that the corporate motivation for profit (and therefore viability) may very well take a backseat to political maneuvers.

Now, $50 billion and a mere week after filing bankruptcy, government owned GM is already bowing to the meddling of powerful socialist democrats in a bid to toss home districts an unwarranted lifeline at the expense of other apparently less deserving districts and the corporation's overall success.

Rep Barney Frank (D-Mass.) won a stay of execution on Thursday for a General Motors plant in his district that the automaker had announced it would close.

No other lawmaker has managed to halt the GM ax. As chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Frank oversees the government's bailout program, known as TARP. Frank's staff said the lawmaker spokes with GM CEO Fritz Henderson on Wednesday and convinced him to keep the Norton, Mass. plant open for at least 14 months.

GM announced Monday in its bankruptcy and restructuring plans it would close of nine of its plants and idle three others. The automaker said it would also shutter three service and parts operations by the end of the year — one of which is in Frank's district.

"I greatly appreciate General Motors' willingness to take into consideration the wider needs of the company and especially the community," Frank said in a statement. "Keeping the facility open for this extra time gives workers a chance to look at other opportunities, while at the same time continuing to provide for their families."

It appears as if the early fears of naysayers might be coming true even more quickly than the naysayers thought possible.

I hate the intervention of any politician into these sorts of decisions, particularly when GM is essentially being held over a barrel by politician-owners of the company. No one knows how much pressure is being applied to lackey automobile executives at this point behind closed doors.

It should be noted that the most effective politician at bludgeoning the soft putty automobile industry into a desired shape post intervention has been Barney Frank, a man who is as personally responsible for the financial meltdown as any other politician in Washington. No bad deed goes unrewarded in Washington. The hapless Michigan delegation, home to a vast majority of the plants slated to close, can do nothing but sit impotently by.

Fortunately it seems as if unemployed Michiganders have no need to "look at other opportunities, while at the same time continuing to provide for their families." It just ain't in the political cards.

h/t Protein Wisdom