No Czar for cash advance-gorged automakers
The United States government has already shelled out massive cash advance loans to players in the U.S. auto industry to keep them solvent. And after gorging themselves, GM and Chrysler are asking for seconds (See: http://blogs.ebay.com/n2myroots/entry/GM-Ford-Chrysler-Want-More-Taxpayer-Bailout-M/_W0QQidZ863017014). Will President Obama continue to fatten up the insatiable on the taxpayers’ money? Surely someone else needs to take the reins of the auto industry if the problems are to be fixed, yes?
That isn’t going to happen yet. John Hughes reports for Bloomberg that President Obama decided not to name a “car czar.” What will happen for now is that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers will head a task force on how to fix the industry. Early word on Geithner – tax snafu aside – has not been positive, so I’m not sure whether this decision fills me with confidence.
Pressure to name a “main man”
According to Hughes, President Obama was “under pressure to say who would handle the issue before tomorrow, when General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC must give progress reports on plans to restructure as a condition of $17.4 billion in U.S. Treasury loans.” One thing that’s positive: those two diseased behemoths aren’t dictating policy here.
Geithner will be the next best thing, for now. It will be within his power to recall any monetary aid if the automakers fail to show they have a sound profit plan by March 31. That is without the expectation of further advances of cash to stimulate their bottom line.
Driving into the future without cash advance
Five Democrats in the Senate, including Michigan’s Debbie Stabenow, have urged the president to appoint a manufacturing expert to the auto industry oversight panel. The reasoning behind this, as Stabenow explained, is that “This advisory group provides a tremendous opportunity to bring together our country’s greatest manufacturing leaders to help our domestic automakers create the vehicles and technology of the future.”
Do the current auto industry leaders have the ability to drive the American automobile industry into the future? Most see them as the joyriders who ran the industry through the guard rail in the first place. They cry for cash advance loans now, and they still want more. Their history of unwise spending and production has created a huge mess. I say President Obama takes over, whether it’s through a “car czar” or some other means. The usual suspects should not run this asylum.
Related articles
- REPORT: Obama dropping “car czar” in favor of task force (autoblog.com)
- Obama drops plans to name a single car czar to oversee the restructuring of GM and Chrysler. (slate.com)
I think that not appointing a car czar might be a move in the right direction in some ways, but perhaps in others it might be a hindrance. There’s no way that two of the largest car makers in the world should be allowed to fold, but a serious revamp of their product lines should be what they are working on, specifically the next generation of fuel efficient cars. 30 mpg should be the norm instead of 20, and a more expanded line of electric and hybrid models could end up being their saving grace.