Let's just remember the UAW and the line workers are the real greedy bad guys in all this.
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The CEO and other execs are the one's who are greedy and overpaid it is the line worker making a middle-class wage and getting nice benefits that cost GM.
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If UAW had just settled for less wages and crap benefits maybe this CEO would still be running a successful GM and making his full salary.
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This poor guy has to settle for a lower salary to do nothing for the rest of his life.
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I can't believe the Republicans are letting this happen. Can't they stop the greed of the UAW and put this poor man back as CEO so he can earn his full wage again.
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All sarcasm for those who like to take shots at the UAW.
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The CEO's and other execs making millions and millions of dollars cost GM not the UAW and the line workers.
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To think, some like Hannity, actually called the UAW greedy. Did the entire line at the Janesville plant total a salary that this guy will make after being fired and during retirement?
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I get that execs. will make more and should make more but not so much more that a company goes bankrupt. Just another example of: the rich getting richer and the middle, working and poor class getting screwed.

What an exaggeration. The government owns 60% of exactly ONE car company (GM), with less than 20% of a falling market share.

It will only be a matter of time for Ford to declare bankruptcy to. They simply structured their debt more effectively then did GM, and Chrysler. It bought them some time, but they are pretty much dead in the water barring a major economic turn around, that is all but impossible now.
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Ford will be asking for a bailout, bridge loan, or what ever fancy euphemism you care to use, in the very near future. Once the governmnet takes them over, they can move to create one singular car company that is run by the US governmnet.
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It should be very clear the direction we are headed in, and that is of a oligarchy state. It's laughable that anyone thinks either party is for the people. This is just one giant scheme of the powerful helping the powerful. Just look at Goldman Sachs if you don't believe that. They were allowed to kill of their main competitors (Bear Sterns, and Lehman brothers...The ONLY 2 companies NOT to be bailed out by the government) get clearance from the feds (who of course all all tied into Goldman) to get $20 billion in TARP $$$$ (even though they were perfectly sound and did not need the $$$$) and now amazingly they have record multi billion $$$ quarter! Of course Goldman was all tied into Paulson when Bush was in office, and just as tied in to Geithner, and the Obama administration now.
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The country is simply moving to an oligarchy state where the governmnet will basically merge with your corporate giants, and the ones at the top (of the companies they merge with, and at the top of governmnet itself) will have all the power and wealth. While the average joe citizen...Well, they all get screwed!
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You want a good stock trade out of it?
Simply buy into the major health care insurance providers. Do not believe a word of any of the morons telling you that this heath care take over will screw the insurance companies. The governmnet will merge with these companies much like they have done with the banks, autos (and even GE), and these companies will be GOLD with the unlimited governmnet backing behind them!

"There is no way that any CEO given the current economic climate, could have made that company competitive."

GM was failing LONG before the "current economic climate". How has Ford survived? It has similar legacy costs. Bill Ford Jr. was wise enough to step down, and the Board of Directors hired another CEO, who, so far, has managed the company well. The GM Board of Bystanders did nothing while the ship sank.

It takes two parties to agree to the above average wages and benefits. I'm not defending the UAW's past strong-arn tactics, but Ford has managed to survive those costs, while GM has not.

serendipitous:

I am proud of my low-paying job as I actually do something for society....

I work my butt to help others with disabilities to enjoy the lives we take for granted.

Get out from under your rock

i wish like heck he woulda been fired long ago. some of the bonuses himself and some of the others got were absolutely obscene and thats in spite of loosing money all those years. he shoulda had to pay back into the company for his retirement package.

But how do we know that you are worth that money? It's real easy to pass judgment on people you don't know. Our plant was making a profit too, unfortunately GM as a whole was mismanaged. But, I digress....

Chad--Sure, I would say I'm definitely worth what I am paid. The department I work in is a profit center within the company and our department has always performed well. In the field that I'm in, my salary is consistent with those who do the same thing at other companies. That's exactly what I'm saying--GM paid it's factory workers twice as much as other factory workers without having the financial results to support doing that. If the company wasn't losing serious market share and people were actually buying it's cars, one could justify doing that--it the situation they're in now(and for the last couple of years)--absolutely not......We're getting off topic again though.......

916 -are you worth what you are paid for your job? That could well be debated too. Probably a lot of people out there who would do your job for less. But I guess you aren't milking it either, you probably don't take vacations and gave back your Christmas bonus.

No whiskey...GM line workers bankrolled for years. They made twice as much as the typical factory worker along with all of the benefits to go along with it. Everyone in the organization milked the situation as long as they could for as much as they could....Don't condemn Wagoner for staking his claim--if any of you were in his position, you would be doing the exact same thing.......

Gm Ceo gets the goldmine Gm workers get the shaft .

I'm so happy for him! :P

Gee, and they wonder why GM is in trouble.
Nobody is worth this amount of money.

No wonder General Motors went into bankrupties chapter. These CEO's are not worth a plum nickel. Seeing how they miss handle the company. It's the workers on the line that should merit more when they retire. They were the one's that work hard and made G.M., not the CEO's.

WOW !!! That`s just to crazy to comment on.

Joe "The Plumber" says that a 39% marginal tax rate above $250K per year is socialism. I wonder if he's upset that Wagoner will be taxed at 39%.

serendipitous....It really sounds like you're the one loaded with bitterness. It's great that your father worked hard and was content with factory work. If he was ambitious enough to get his BBA and then his MBA, he very well could have found himself in the same position that Wagoner is in. He was the CEO of a global giant--it might not be right, but the payout certainly shouldn't be surprising. I don't want to start bashing the UAW again, but I truly believe they are a big part of the nightmare that GM has turned into. There is no way that any CEO given the current economic climate, could have made that company competitive. It was/is drowning in labor and legacy expense........

MadeinUSA....Very well said! I could not agree with you more!

swisschick....I totally agree with your running a company into the ground and getting a reward for it! Good grief, this is why the economy is in such trouble! These damn high mucky mucks getting big bucks and taking more away fromt he average/low income people! My husband worked for a company here in town that was affiliated with GM and lost his job because of GM going down. A couple years before all this happened him and the rest of the employees had to take a 15% paycut for 4 years to keep things going and THEN the GEO and high mucky mucks got a raise of a million WTH is that! That is WRONG!

Wow... Some of you are quite delusional. Are you bitter because you work in a low-paying job? Did you decide to work there or did someone force you into it? Are you not free to go out and find a better paying job? From the looks of these postings, the majority of you sit in your golden throne at home all day and read the gazette and comments. I realize how hard it is for some of you to muster up enough energy to think about a clever response.

My father worked at GM for 33 years. He never called in sick, never took a vacation day, and never complained to the union about a job he just didn't want to do. He did what was asked of him and beyond. He worked overtime and weekends when they needed and he switched shifts when they were short. He worked his tail off for 33 years to make a good life for his family. We didn't have much, so it's not as if the employees were making "A LOT more" than the rest of the world, as most of you think. Maybe if society lived within their means, they wouldn't complain so much about their own short straw in life while putting down those that actually saved and scrimped.

Back to the article at hand, Wagoner did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to deserve more than $10M in a so-called retirement when he had been FIRED from GM. He deserved nothing! Just like what they are giving the GM retirees now. My dad worked all those years in loyalty. They've taken away his benefits and some of his pay. And Wagoner gets $10M. All of you can only complain about the UAW and the employees, but you side with the EX-CEO. What is wrong with you? You can relax your bitterness toward GM employees and the UAW now, they're gone. Thanks for your support. I hope you aren't in that position someday and beg all of us to support you.

ljs64 - You're 100% right about that, but Wagoner was the man in charge and allowed much of that to happen. He was too nice of a guy. GM failed GM.

What crime did Mr. Wagoner commit, MadeinUSA?
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No one seems to want to talk about the greedy UAW and their responsibility in the auto mess.
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Remember all the strikes over the years for MORE pay, MORE benefits, MORE time off, etc. Let's look at the root cause. Greed from the UAW and the members of the UAW.

Interesting. Consider that 50,000 salary retirees will lose their healthcare coverage at the end of 2009, and they weren't FIRED! They served the Corp. and retired with good status. This guy gets over $6000 a month for the rest of his life, full healthcare, and millions in stock options!? Who says crime doesn't pay?

I wish I could fail miserably at my job and get a fat severance like that. Come on! What is wrong with this country that you're rewarded more for failure than success?! This is absolutely ridiculous. No wonder GM has problems.

Very good video about what happened.
http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2009/03/...

ljs64 - Many were complaining. Besides, this isn't all about the SUV sales and GM closing because of it. The company failed as a whole and Rick Wagoner was responsible for a majority of it.

ljs64,

I was complaining then. I thought he was a moron then and was making terrible decisions. He should have been let go 5 years ago. The man seemed to be adverse to making the company agile.

ljs64,

I was complaining then. I thought he was a moron then and was making terrible decisions. He should have been let go 5 years ago. The man seemed to be adverse to making the company agile.

Nobody was complaining about his salary and bonus 5 to 6 years ago when the economy was flourishing and SUV sales were great. So easy to sit back and criticize after the fact.

Chad the GM spokesman returns.

With $10 million, you would be set for life. And $74,000 yearly for the rest of your life. This makes me sick. He doesn't deserve jack.

$10 million ain't what it used to be. I'll bet that Mr. Wagoner is going to have a hard time making ends meet. The hoi polloi cannot be expected to appreciate how difficult it is going to be for him. Think of the children. Think of his wife. Think of the sacrifices that they are going to have to make!

This really irritates me. My dad put 30 years into that company. He worked all the overtime he could get. He switched shifts when they needed him to cover. He worked his tail off. Now he is retired and he only gets a fraction of what he made while he was working.

Then along comes this guy. He runs the company into the ground. He gets paid $10M for doing what? And they are paying him this out of the money that they took from people like my father, who no longer have dental or vision insurance. He worked all of his life to raise his family, and that's the thanks he gets? My dad never got fired from GM (and still stay on the payroll... nice). He was very loyal to GM which is more than I can say for Wagoner. Jerk.

I wish that if I got "FIRED" from a company that they would pay me almost 20 times (sarcasm) what i made... Way to go GM

Runs a company in the ground and gets rewarded?

Nice.

"For a company making billions of dollars in revenue, an executive regularly making millions of dollars every year, I think a $10 million retirement package, considering the length of time that he's been with the company, I think it's certainly understandable," Boyd said.

Apparently Mr. Boyd didn't hear that GM went into bankruptcy.That's was 80 BILLION in losses, Mr. Boyd-brain.Notice the dork said revenue, not profit.I spent just about as much time as Wagoner did with the company, where is my 10 mil? But I must say, Wagoner seems to have taken the least of all the CEO's who ran a company into the ground, if that means anything.

Let's all take up a collection for Mr. Wagoner.

It is to bad it took the government to step in to put these packages inline with reality.