GM Flat As Company Exec Asks For Pay Restrictions Loosened

General Motors Co. GM is flat today, but that's not the biggest news of the day. CEO Dan Akerson spoke to an audience at the Economic Club in Washington today, and said that the company is facing losing top talent from its executives, due to the pay restrictions set upon it by the government. Akerson said that relaxing these rules would help with the attrition. He's going to meet later today with federal officials who oversee executive compensation for companies that were bailed out. "We have to be competitive. We have to be able to attract and retain great people," Akerson said. "We've been able to retain them but we're starting to lose them and I think that's an issue for our owners to recognize that in their best interest, there should be some relaxing." The government loaned General Motors nearly $50 billion as aprt of the comapny filing bankruptcy. Part of that money has since been repaid as the company went public last month, but the government still owns 33% of the Detroit based automaker. Despite the requests for pay restrictions to be lifted, Akerson was humble in front of the crowd, and thanked the public for helping GM out. "We survived a near-death experience and we deeply appreciate the support we got from the American people," Akerson said.