Can We Sell our GM Shares?

Imagine if I told you that my stockbroker told me I should invest in a failing company, and I told him not to.  My stockbroker then invested in the company anyway, right before they went bankrupt.  I told him I wasn't going to pay, he said he had already borrowed the money, and I owed him for it.  He insists I am a shareholder in the company, but when I ask to sell my shares, he refuses. When I ask how to cast my shareholders' vote in company management, he says I don't have any.

Sound like I've been defrauded, doesn't it?  Of course, readers may realize that my stockbroker is Timothy Geithner and the failing company is GM (actually I made the same joke/rant about AIG).

Well, turns out Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee has a proposal that will distribute GM and Chrysler shares directly to taxpayers, not to the Treasury.  I doubt this idea is going anywhere, since it makes sense, but I'm glad he makes note of how the "shareholders" have no say in company management, whereas our members of Congress are already putting pressure on GM to make poor business decisions for the sake of political gain.