DETROIT – General Motors Corp. Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner will step
down immediately at the request of the White House, administration
officials said Sunday. The news comes as President Obama prepares to
unveil additional restructuring efforts designed to save the domestic
auto industry.

The officials asked not to be identified because details of the
restructuring plan have not yet been made public. On Monday, Obama is to
announce plans to restructure GM and Chrysler LLC in exchange for
additional government loans. The companies have been living on $17.4
billion in government aid and have requested $21.6 billion more.

Wagoner, 56, joined the company in 1977, serving in several capacities
in the U.S., Brazil and Europe. He has been chairman and chief executive
since May 1, 2003.

Obama said Sunday that GM and Chrysler and all those with a stake in
their survival need to take more hard steps to help the struggling
automakers restructure for the future.

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CEO's whose companies lose money year after year, whose companies fail
to come up with innovative products that do not do well in the
marketplace, and who depend upon taxpayer handouts should get the boot.

I want to see the big national banks broken up, and a wall of separation
set up between brokerage houses, banks, and insurance companies. The
conglomerate financial services companies do not benefit the general
public.