Umm..why? He made terrible decisions. His vision for the future of the company was terrible. He didn't mitigate risk. He didn't consolidate or cut back when it was obvious the business cannot be sustained. He got paid hundreds of millions of dollars to run that company into the ground.
I disagree. Below is a typical plant closing web notice that most americans have ignored for years. This pain has been going on in my state for decades. People have just been ignoring the reality of the U.S. manufacturing bases demise. ... GM's big shakeup Automaker ups job cuts to 30,000 jobs as it shuts plants, facilities in plan to save $7B a year. November 21, 2005: 3:29 PM EST By Chris Isidore, CNN/Money senior writer GM CEO Rick Wagoner detailed the company's job-cut plans but declined to say when the troubled automaker might return to profitability. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - General Motors Corp. said Monday it would cut 30,000 hourly jobs and close or scale back operations at about a dozen U.S. and Canadian locations in a bid to save $7 billion a year and halt huge losses in its core North American auto operations. The cuts are 5,000 more than the 25,000 jobs GM had said it would cut in June, and represent more than 22 percent of its union work force in North America. Many of the cuts would start next year, GM said Monday, despite job protection provisions in its union contract that runs through September 2007. GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said he expects another 7 percent of salaried workers in North America would also be cut by the end of 2006, though he gave no specific number of job cuts planned there. Seven percent would equal about 2,500 jobs in the United States and additional cuts in Canada as well. The automaker said the plan is aimed at saving $7 billion a year by the end of 2006. Wagoner said the cuts were what the troubled automaker needed to turn around its operations but he wasn't ready to predict when GM will return to profitability. He also wouldn't promise this would be the end of job cuts and plant closings. "As we sit here today, it's our best guess and well thought out analysis," Wagoner said.. "If we've learned anything in the last five years, it's that there's no guarantees in this business or any other business." Not surprisingly, the leadership of the United Auto Workers union blasted the move as unfair. "We have said consistently that General Motors cannot shrink itself to prosperity. In fact, shrinking General Motors only exacerbates its problems," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger and Vice President Richard Shoemaker said in a joint statement. "Unfortunately, it is workers, their families and our communities that are being forced to suffer because of the failures of others," they added. (Full story). Wagoner said he had received support from the company's board of directors and from its employees as he moved forward with the cutback plans and that he had no plans to leave the company. Some investors and analysts have lost confidence in Wagoner given the company's spate of troubles this year. (Full story). "I've given no thought to anything but turning the business around," Wagoner told reporters, adding that he believes his experience with GM should help him lead that effort. "I wasn't brought up to run and hide when things get tough. I'm convinced that's the way that things get righted." He said the moves were not due to any pressure by the board. "We're not taking these actions because of any pressure on me," he said. "We're taking these measures to get the business right."