Dick Cheney: Bush didn’t want to be the one to ”pull the plug” on GM

Dick Cheney: Bush didn’t want to be the one to ”pull the plug” on GM

James Martinez June 4th, 2009 James Martinez By James Martinez Author June 4th, 2009
  • Articles Contributed: 893
  • Comments Posted: 100
  • Leaderboard Rank: #17

December 31st, 1969 Earlier this week General Motors formerly announced that it had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy but the truth of the matter is that the struggling automaker’s downfall was predicted years ago and it has only managed to survive up until now on the back of government handouts. According to latest comments from former vice president Dick Cheney, the Bush administration was well aware of GM’s troubles and knew the automaker should have entered bankruptcy back when it was in power but decided to let the issue slide until after a new president was sworn in. During an interview on Fox News last Tuesday, Cheney revealed that during his presidency George W. Bush did not want to be the one who “pulled the plug” on GM. “I thought that, eventually, the right outcome was going to be bankruptcy,” Cheney said, referring to GM. “It had to go through such a dramatic restructuring to have any chance of survival that they had to be able to renegotiate labor contracts and so forth, and the president decided that he did not want to be the one who pulled the plug just before he left office.” Cheney said that rather than acting on GM, the Bush administration “put together a package that tided GM over until the new administration had a chance to look at it.” This included the original $17.4 billion auto industry bailout package signed in by the Bush administration late last year, which was designed to give the incoming Obama administration some time to adjust and make preparations for the inevitable GM bankruptcy. GM is expected to emerge from its ongoing bankruptcy in about 60 to 90 days as a separate New GM, of which 60.8% will be owned by the U.S. government. The restructured company will also be responsible for approximately $17 billion in total consolidated debt, as opposed to the $172 odd billion the old GM was servicing.
The $17.4 billion aid package signed in by the Bush last year was only to tide GM over until the arrival of the new administration

The $17.4 billion aid package signed in by the Bush last year was only to tide GM over until the arrival of the new administration

Enlarge Photo

Earlier this week General Motors formerly announced that it had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy but the truth of the matter is that the struggling automaker’s downfall was predicted years ago and it has only managed to survive up until now on the back of government handouts. According to latest comments from former vice president Dick Cheney, the Bush administration was well aware of GM’s troubles and knew the automaker should have entered bankruptcy back when it was in power but decided to let the issue slide until after a new president was sworn in.

During an interview on Fox News last Tuesday, Cheney revealed that during his presidency George W. Bush did not want to be the one who “pulled the plug” on GM.

“I thought that, eventually, the right outcome was going to be bankruptcy,” Cheney said, referring to GM. “It had to go through such a dramatic restructuring to have any chance of survival that they had to be able to renegotiate labor contracts and so forth, and the president decided that he did not want to be the one who pulled the plug just before he left office.”

Cheney said that rather than acting on GM, the Bush administration “put together a package that tided GM over until the new administration had a chance to look at it.” This included the original $17.4 billion auto industry bailout package signed in by the Bush administration late last year, which was designed to give the incoming Obama administration some time to adjust and make preparations for the inevitable GM bankruptcy.

GM is expected to emerge from its ongoing bankruptcy in about 60 to 90 days as a separate New GM, of which 60.8% will be owned by the U.S. government. The restructured company will also be responsible for approximately $17 billion in total consolidated debt, as opposed to the $172 odd billion the old GM was servicing.

Tags: Detroit, General Motors, bankruptcy, GM, obama, Barack Obama

Posted in: News


Comments (5 total)

Meet the top commenters on the Leaderboard

  1. ma_NoNameDenton avatar by NoNameDenton #1, Posted: 6/4/2009

    Should have been done sooner and not later

  2. ma_Roy avatar by Roy #2, Posted: 6/4/2009

    Meanwhile, Cheney is currently engaged in the worst kind of revisionist history. I didn't think he could stoop any lower than his behaviour during the presidency, when he showed the grace, charm and wit of a poorly tuned vacuum cleaner. But now he's parading himself around like some sort of second coming, suddenly claiming that *** marriage is fine, bailouts are bad, too many rights were stripped from us in the name of protecting us from a paranoid terrorist threat, and that Bush was sufficiently aware of anything to have opinions.

    In my mind his new book ought to reside on bookshelves next to Mein Kampf, gathering dust and withering looks for the rest of time.

    Sorry, I try not to rant on these pages... I'm excited to see what becomes of the new GM. I hope we'll look back on this as a great day in the American motor industry, which has been struggling for at least thirty years... long before Bush apparently saw the writing on the wall.

  3. ma_Jim avatar by Jim #3, Posted: 6/5/2009

    To borrow from Mary McCarthy, everything Cheney says is a lie, including 'and' and 'the.'

    Just another example of the Bush administrations kick the can down the road philosophy of governing. If the Bush administration had taken real action rather than simply throwing money at the auto industry, the inevitable bankruptcy would have happened sooner and less money would have been spent keeping them on life support.

  4. ma_NoNameDenton avatar by NoNameDenton #4, Posted: 6/5/2009

    Yeah and Obama's plan has been working out real well, you guys can mock Bush and Cheney all you want, they would not have taken a 60% government stake in GM like Obama did.

  5. ma_dcars avatar by dcars #5, Posted: 6/7/2009

    This is old news, when GM got the first bailout money, the bush administration let it be known that bankruptcy may be necessary, but they would defer to the next administration.

Post a Comment

Post anonymously
Sign In |
will stay private
your 'posted by' name will link to the URL

More from MotorAuthority

More from High Gear Media