As someone who grew up in Michigan, these are the same idiots who lived from quarter-to-quarter waiting for gas prices to come down... since 1972 ! Year after year they went to the government for more and more subsidies, and did almost nothing to improve their cars.
Now, 50% of Ford got laid off (blue collar AND white collar), and similar numbers at GM and Chrysler, so, yeah, these guys are scared to death because they, as public employees, are frightened *their* pensions might not be worth anymore than their car company friends pensions. So, with financial carnage all around them, they are only looking to make a quick, and safe, buck.
The long term play is to keep Yahoo independent and let Jerry Yang's turnaround plans work (or not). The short term play is to vote for the Microsoft acquisition, take the money, and get out of both Yahoo and Microsoft stock before Microsoft manages Yahoo into the ground.
I agree with the first two posters: Yahoo had to ask for more money or they would be sued by shareholders would thought they sold too cheaply. And if these pension funds thought $31/share was a good price, that was basically the market price 4 months ago: Microsoft is paying no actual premium for Yahoo stock.
