I've got a right-winger telling me Obama is a socialist for nationalizing the banks and the auto industry.

Saying he nationalized the banks is a joke, since that was a straight "here's billions of dollars, do what you like with it" bailout.

But if memory serves, there were strings attached with the auto bailout. I think the GM CEO had to be fired and Chrysler had to sell to Fiat, but I can't remember the details and I'm having trouble finding them in old articles. Does anybody know of a good article or resource?

The RW story of course is that the feds now own 61% of GM, but unless I'm wrong GM is still a privately owned that is run entirely without government intervention? Am I correct in believing this? Isn't it just now that the US government (and by extension the taxpayers) is/are the primary holder of GM stock? This would presumably give the government some say in how the company is run, but how often is that muscle actually flexed?

And didn't this deal come about largely at GM's request?

At any rate, the government investing in a private company seems a far cry from nationalization to me.

(edit: changed subject to hopefully get more attention. was: Terms of the auto industry bailout)