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November 6, 2009 (LPAC)-- Lyndon LaRouche said Thursday that GM must be taught a brutal lesson in response to the fact the Board of Directors of General Motors acted without the knowledge of President Barack Obama to pull the plug on the deal which had been agreed upon for a consortium led by Canadian supplier Magna and Russia's Sberbank to take over GM's Opel unit in Germany and other European countries. GM made the announcement on Tuesday, just hours after German Chancellor Angela Merkel had addressed the U.S. Congress — the first Chancellor to do so since 1957 — and had just met personally with the President.

President Obama assured the Chancellor on Wednesday that he did not know about the decision and was not involved, despite the fact that the U.S. Treasury is GM's majority shareholder, with about a 60-percent stake as a result of providing more than $50 billion in loans and other aid to GM.

Lyndon LaRouche, therefore, asked: What action is going to be taken against General Motors, then? The U.S. must take some action. GM has been bailed out by the U.S. government, and now they have turned around and double-crossed the President of the United States on a business deal. The President was screwed. This is not personal. It is more than personal. No matter how bad the President may be, you don't screw the President of the United States. No matter what mistakes the President may make, you don't screw the institution of the Presidency, especially when, in the case of GM, it has received so much from the U.S. They have no right to do this. When the President has bailed out your company, you should at least consult with the President before taking such an action.

LaRouche continued: Maybe they should be made to pay some penalty. Maybe they should be taught a lesson. Maybe GM has not been civilized yet.

Briefed on Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's comment that GM acted scornfully and arrogantly toward its partners and did not speak to anyone before making the announcement, despite all the agreements reached and documents signed, LaRouche said Putin is right. But we are Americans, not Russians. GM double-crossed the President of the United States in an unconscionable way. GM set up the President. I admit that President Obama has all the faults that I have attributed to him, but you don't do this to the President of the United States.

GM has to be taught a brutal lesson. The Attorney General should look into this, to see if there is fraud involved, to see if there is a fast-buck operation of some kind involved.

This affects U.S. relations with Germany, a nation which is an important ally of the U.S. You don't let a private interest screw an ally of the U.S. in this fashion. They have to be taught a lesson. They don't represent the American people. They haven't done anything for the U.S. people. Rather, they have been living on the generosity of the U.S. government. Without the U.S. government, they wouldn't be in business. They need to learn a lesson. We owe it to the American people to take decisive action.