GM CEO Makes Big Donation--Defends Bailout
DETROIT -- (WWJ) General Motors CEO Dan Akerson seeking to jump-start a new program to rebuild parts of Detroit's East Side, with a big donation.
"This is part of America," said Akerson has he helped kick off the new program, with a one million dollar donation. "Detroit is a great American city. As Detroiter's, we want to see it built back up."
Akerson says the idea of the donation came as he and his wife Karin were trying to decide how best to celebrate their 40th anniversary. He says they came up with a better option than giving each other gifts.
"We would try to help others, as a gift to one another and this community," he said in the ceremony at J.E. Clark Preparatory Academy in the Morningside Commons neighborhood. Just a few miles from the wealthy Grosse Pointes, this is a neighborhood filled with abandoned houses and empty lots.
"When I first came here, the only city I've ever seen with such destruction, when I was in the service I went to East Berlin before the wall came down," said Akerson.
The one million dollar gift is a start toward raising $25 million for a program called "Leaders to Rebuild Detroit." The money will be used to build new homes, as part of Habitat for Humanity, and to repair existing homes.
They will also use the money to counsel people who are trying to buy homes.
Akerson tied in the assistance that he and General Motors are giving to Detroit with the assistance the federal government gave to GM and Chrysler.
"You can debate this forever, and I'm sure it will be for some time, but facts are facts, it worked," he said.
The proof, says Akerson, comes in the record profits posted by GM just last week.
The bailout has become a point of contention in the Michigan primary, receiving criticism from all of the Republican candidates But, Akerson pointed out that two presidents with very different philosophies agreed to help the auto industry.
Akerson says the aid given to GM and Chrysler helped save American jobs and American communities.
"What can be wrong about that, regardless of what party affiliation you're in."
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