With the state of the auto industry quickly returning to center-state, President Obama has apparently rejected one of the worst ideas from the last round of the Big Three Bailout:
DETROIT — President Obama has dropped the idea of appointing a single, powerful “car czar” to oversee the revamping of General Motors and Chrysler and will instead keep the politically delicate task in the hands of his most senior economic advisers, a top administration official said Sunday night.
Mr. Obama is designating the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, and the chairman of the National Economic Council, Lawrence H. Summers, to oversee a presidential panel on the auto industry. Mr. Geithner will also supervise the $17.4 billion in loan agreements already in place with G.M. and Chrysler, said the official, who insisted on anonymity.
The official also said that Ron Bloom, a restructuring expert who has advised the labor unions in the troubled steel and airline industries, would be named a senior adviser to Treasury on the auto crisis.
The unexpected shift comes as G.M. and Chrysler race to complete broad restructuring plans they must file with the Treasury by Tuesday. The companies’ plans are required to show progress in cutting long-term costs as a condition for keeping their loans.
The administration official said the president was reserving for himself any decision on the viability of G.M. and Chrysler, both of which came close to bankruptcy before receiving federal aid two months ago.
One of President Obama’s top advisers said Sunday that the administration had not ruled out a government-backed bankruptcy as a means to overhaul the automakers.
The question is whether Obama will have the political courage to let G.M. and Chrysler go through the necessary pain of bankruptcy or whether he will succumb to the political pressure within his own party, most specifically from the UAW.
> The unexpected shift comes as G.M. and Chrysler race to complete broad restructuring plans
I betcha their plans don’t look anything like the “cut 90% of management jobs, 50% of workforce, and reneg on most of our current contracts” that they’ll have to look like if they’re actually going to become viable.
My question is this….Almost EVERY business in Amerika is downsizing do to the poor economy. Obama has increased government spending about double of what is the “norm”. How is it that this government is going to put us deeper in debt than we have ever been and yet…He’s dropping the idea of one single car czar but expanding government by appointing a council to oversee the auto industry. With businesses HAVING to downsize or go bankrupt….How ’bout we downsize government?? Which has been bankrupt FOR YEARS!! (Both finacially AND morally)