By the description below, would you lend this man 25 billion?

[Neshanic]

"******* took the top spot at GM in 2000, making him the longest-serving CEO at a U.S. automaker. GM shares reached a record $96.63 in April 2000, shortly before he took the helm. They fell to $4.76, the lowest since 1950, on Oct. 9 as the U.S. auto-sales outlook worsened.

GM slid 50 cents, or 8.4 percent, to $5.45 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have tumbled 78 percent this year, the worst performance among the 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average."

Also would you let this person stay on to run the company after he gets your money? What if this person was told that the market would change and he may want to get more fuel efficient cars?

Well he is going to get it, and he is staying. Thanks to you, the taxpaying saps.

[vixengrl]

1. Um--not really.

I can almost dig when Carly Fiorina implied that the US automakers could just hang based on poor risk-taking and management--the problem is they take a company and jobs down with them, and the dumb-bunnies who drove the companies into the dirt still make out like bandits. They may very well have kept whatsisname on because it was cheaper than trying to cough up his "parachute".

[Robbien]

2. Someone likes him. Take a look at the bonus package he is receiving

Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner could be rewarded handsomely in severance benefits — offset somewhat by stock losses — in the event of a change in control and his subsequent separation from the company, according to the company’s recent proxy statement:

“There is no general severance plan for executives. At the discretion of the Executive Compensation Committee, Named Executive Officers could receive severance pay up to 2.99 times base salary and annual bonus target. Other salaried employees may receive up to 12 months salary upon involuntary separation.”

The annual target cash compensation for Wagoner is $5.0 million per annum, which includes a base salary of $2.2 million. So the board could offer Wagoner up to $15 million in severance pay.

Wagoner’s stock-based performance incentives, worth approximately $10 million at December 31, 2007 (common stock at $24.89), can now be cashed in for about $2.6 million. In addition, some 2.9 million incentive options awarded to Wagoner in the last decade at exercise prices between $20.90 a share to $75.50 a share are now worthless.

Upon separation from the company, Wagoner, 55, would be eligible to receive an annual annuity payment of $61,200 from his supplemental retirement plan. He will, however, have to wait until the age of 60 to tap his executive retirement plan, worth an estimated $19.7 million at December 31, 2007. In addition, Wagoner had a 2007 year-end non-qualified deferred compensation account worth an estimated $765,000.

http://industry.bnet.com/auto/1000284/gm-ceo-wagoner-has-a-likely-golden-parachute-too/

[LiberalFighter]

3. I would fire the board too.