- 11/11/10 04:10 PM ET
Consumer advocate Ralph Nader wrote President Obama on Thursday, urging him to delay a planned initial public offering (IPO) for General Motors.
Nader, a two-time independent presidential candidate and longtime auto-safety watchdog, said delaying the automaker's stock offering would better help taxpayers recoup their $50 billion investment in GM.
"We urge that the government as primary owner arrange for the suspension of the IPO and then begin exercising the responsibilities attendant to ownership," Nader wrote Thursday in a letter co-signed by leaders of Public Citizen and the Center for Auto Safety.
GM is expected to publicly offer stock this month for the first time since undergoing a government-supervised bankruptcy in 2009. That process saw the Obama administration extend billions in aid to the troubled automaker in exchange for an equity stake in the company.
The government has exercised a passive role in its ownership of GM and has said it plans to steadily unwind its stake in the company after its stock becomes public.
Nader said the government should hold onto its current stake longer in order to try for better returns, to support manufacturing jobs and to encourage better fuel efficiency.
"As the government was preparing its rescue of GM, we highlighted each of the concerns mentioned here, and urged that they be addressed as part of the rescue process. Those recommendations were, unfortunately, ignored," Nader said. "But it is not too late for the government to exercise its control of GM responsibly, and to advance vital public interest objectives. We urge you to act to suspend the IPO."
Nader, a two-time independent presidential candidate and longtime auto-safety watchdog, said delaying the automaker's stock offering would better help taxpayers recoup their $50 billion investment in GM.
"We urge that the government as primary owner arrange for the suspension of the IPO and then begin exercising the responsibilities attendant to ownership," Nader wrote Thursday in a letter co-signed by leaders of Public Citizen and the Center for Auto Safety.
GM is expected to publicly offer stock this month for the first time since undergoing a government-supervised bankruptcy in 2009. That process saw the Obama administration extend billions in aid to the troubled automaker in exchange for an equity stake in the company.
The government has exercised a passive role in its ownership of GM and has said it plans to steadily unwind its stake in the company after its stock becomes public.
Nader said the government should hold onto its current stake longer in order to try for better returns, to support manufacturing jobs and to encourage better fuel efficiency.
"As the government was preparing its rescue of GM, we highlighted each of the concerns mentioned here, and urged that they be addressed as part of the rescue process. Those recommendations were, unfortunately, ignored," Nader said. "But it is not too late for the government to exercise its control of GM responsibly, and to advance vital public interest objectives. We urge you to act to suspend the IPO."
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