It's a fair question to ask and many have been asking since GM's CEO Rick Wagoner was sacked. As much as he deserved to be sent packing, it still remains unclear why Wall Street has not been treated the same. Many of the worst offenders on Wall Street have already left (with bags of gold) but the problems remain. AIG continues to be treated mildly and even though the Wall Street bailout is $9 trillion and counting. Somehow those at the center of the current crisis are being treated better. This approach will only float with the public for so long. The Michigan line workers are right:
"It's the age-old Wall Street vs. Main Street smackdown again," said Brian Fredline, president of UAW Local 602 at a plant near Lansing. "You have all kinds of funding available to banks that are apparently too big to fail, but they're also too big to be responsible."
"But when it comes to auto manufacturing and middle-class jobs and people that don't matter on Wall Street, there are certainly different standards that we have to meet -- higher standards -- than the financials. That is a double standard that exists and it's unfair," Fredline said.
Many workers -- not generally known for their affection toward executives -- even sympathized with Rick Wagoner, who was forced to step down as chief executive of General Motors. He was by turns called a "sacrificial lamb," "scapegoat" and "fall guy."
