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February 16, 2009
Obama Creating Auto Industry Panel
Obama Creating Auto Industry Panel
WASHINGTON
President Barack Obama plans to appoint senior administration officials — rather than a single "car czar," as had been discussed — to oversee a restructuring of the auto industry.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers will oversee the across-the-government panel, a senior administration official said Sunday on the condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made.
"The president understands the importance of this issue and also understands that the auto industry affects and is affected by a broad range of economic policies," the official said.
As the teams move forward, Obama "wants to make sure that we're getting the expertise and input of agencies across the government," the official said.
Obama and his aides face difficult choices on the fate of the U.S. auto industry, weighing the cost of pouring billions more into struggling companies against possible bankruptcies that could undermine plans to jump-start the economy.
General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC are racing against a Tuesday deadline to submit plans to the government. The plans are to be followed by weeks of intense negotiations ahead of a March 31 deadline for the final versions of the reports.
GM and Chrysler are living off a combined $13.4 billion in government loans. If they don't receive concessions by March 31, they face the prospect of having the loans pulled, followed by bankruptcy proceedings.
Enter the President's Task Force on Autos. That group will use officials from the departments of Treasury, Labor, Transportation, Commerce and Energy. Members of the National Economic Council, the White House Office of Energy and Environment, the Council of Economic Advisers and the Environmental Protection Agency will also be involved, according to the administration official.
Obama also plans to name restructuring expert Ron Bloom a senior adviser to Geithner. He will not be the "car czar" pointman many labor and business leaders expected. Bloom, a former consultant to the United Steelworkers of America, will be doing much of the financial analysis for the administration.
Geithner is expected to be the only Cabinet secretary to be part of the panel, the senior administration official said. Deputy secretaries, however, would be involved.
Obama "felt it was important to have the treasury secretary as his official designee to oversee these loans," the senior administration official said.
Wild Thing's comment.......
I feel really bad about all of this. GM is an American created industry.. I have always been proud of our industries and have begun in our country, the American dream at work. To see so many things changing and Obama wanting his socialism in every corner of our country angers and saddens me . I truly hate seeing the Federal government in business/ schools and any part of what has made this country great.
GM should have NEVER taken the bait. The ones at Ford were the smart ones — they turned the “apple” down.
The government and the unions have crippled and finally killed the auto industry and now they just want to use the shell to amuse themselves.
Posted by Wild Thing at February 16, 2009 04:40 AM
Comments
Interesting, How the more things change the more they stay the same. Its about 75 years since the inception of the NRA(National Recovery Administration) which governed and regulated how businesses should and would operate. These similarities don't stop there. in 1933 General Electric climbed into bed with FDR for this huge government takeover of Industry. Basically, the government set prices for goods and services and they had to be sold at that price...or you were taken to court and likely jailed and this happened often. There was one small company in Pennsylvania, that if he implemented the pricing schedule required by the government and the wage controls he would have to lay off about a 1/2 dozen people. He presented the problem to his employee's and they said they would rather have a job than follow these guidelines.
The goverment found him out and he was arrested and jailed.
During this time, Henry Ford was a huge opponent of the NRA and never received any government contracts during the war because of his opposition to the NRA.
Today obama wants to do something similar, his first oveture in that direction was to, yup, you guessed it, climb into bed with Jeffrey R. Immelt, current CEO of General Electric. Immelt who is responsible for G.E.s Stock dropping for the past 2 years, and the company responsible for 'still' doing business with Iran, through third parties, foreign countries, dispite all the government sanctions laid down by previous Presidents against Iran.
In the 1930's the NRA did nothing to relieve the economy then and this will do nothing to help the economy today. All this will do is restrict Business and increase Unemployment by telling businesses how much to pay their employee's, how much they can sell a product for if anything it will slow the economy even more.
Hopefull, we can get a majoirty in a 1 1/2 and stop all of this non-sense.
Posted by: Mark at February 16, 2009 08:22 AM
Frau Vader (Dusseldorf) loves your NATIONALIST depiction but where's the Aryan blonde hair and blue eye'd look?
- Ein Reich Ein Volk Ein Fueher BRO BHO?
Posted by: darthcrUSAderworldtour07 at February 16, 2009 08:43 AM
Now that Ford refused the government bailout, their government contracts for automobiles will most likely go away. If I'm going to buy a new car, it'll be a Ford.
Posted by: BobF at February 16, 2009 10:22 AM
So Obama is naming a former consultant to the United Steelworkers as senior advisor to Geitner. A labor executive will obviously be looking at this bailout from the labor point of view. Organized labor is one of the main reasons the auto industry is in financial trouble. Government and labor combine again to control business.
Posted by: TomR at February 16, 2009 11:07 AM
Mark, thank you so much for telling about that. It is really interesting and I never knew about it.
I agree too, Obama really does not have a full 4 years. I keep forgetting that, we have a chance to make things right for the next election. I pray that can happen.
Posted by: Wild Thing at February 16, 2009 08:08 PM
Darth, LOL well er ah, we imported this one from Kenya. HAHAHAHA Not a lot of blue eyed blondes over there.
Posted by: Wild Thing at February 16, 2009 08:10 PM
BobF, I had not thought of the government contracts,thanks Bob.
Posted by: Wild Thing at February 16, 2009 08:16 PM
Tom, DITTO that, Government and labor together is not a comforting combination.
Posted by: Wild Thing at February 16, 2009 08:20 PM
