Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm Tells FBN That GM IPO Is A "Terrific Story For America"

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm (D) spoke to FOX Business Network's (FBN) Liz Claman about the General Motors (GM) IPO, saying the IPO is an indication “that the taxpayers are going to be paid back, and manufacturing in America will survive.” Granholm said that while GM “can't claim victory yet”, “things are looking up for General Motors for sure.” Excerpts from the interview can be found below, courtesy of Fox Business Network. On whether she is confident GM has changed enough to be profitable: “The proof will be in the pudding. The reception that the General Motors new management has gotten with their plan, their slimmed down corporation, the lopping off of excess brands, excess capacity. Obviously we have felt that in Michigan, but it would have been so much worse if they had been allowed simply to liquidate. It's a really terrific story for America. It means that the taxpayers are going to be paid back, and it means that for manufacturing in America that this icon this backbone of jobs that make our nation strong will survive. It's really a terrific piece of news. Things are looking up for General Motors for sure.” On her conversations GM CEO Dan Akerson: “He is very bullish on what will happen. Obviously that bullishness is reflected in the expansion of the offering tomorrow. A 31% increase in the number of common shares indicates the demand is great so he is feeling very good, although certainly nobody has arrived yet. You can't claim victory yet.” On how the new GM is helping employment: “For Michigan we had an old saw ‘wherever so goes General Motors, so goes Michigan', and that's really true. When you see General Motors back on track, it's good for America, it's certainly good for Michigan. This is the tenth month in a row we have beat the national unemployment performance in Michigan. We were at 14 and half percent we are now down to 12.8 percent, so we are inching down every month.” On whether Republican Rick Snyder's election is a rejection of her policy: “I think that we were in the same red tide as all of the big ten states. We did not escape that either. The reality from the election was that people are impatient for results. I understand that. They want to see quick results. Unfortunately the structural changes that our state needed to make which is not just to rely on one industry but to diversify our economy and educate, our citizens those are long term strategies.” On the economy in Michigan: “In my first term I cut taxes 99 times in the hope that it would generate the kind of economic activity that you would expect but the reality is that in a global economy, the concentration of manufacturing jobs has meant that we have been hit seven times harder than other states because we have had seven times more automotive manufacturing. We have to address the globalization issues. That means there needs to be some public private partnerships to make manufacturing competitive in America.”