Wanted: Detroit ‘car czar’
Washington, GM, and Chrysler near an autocratic bailout plan
Possible czars, clockwise from top left: Kenneth Feinberg, Mitt Romney, Lee Iococca, Al Gore
The White House and top Democrats agreed to, and the House passed, a $15 billion loan package for GM and Chrysler, said The Washington Post in an editorial. The automakers, in return, agreed to put themselves under the authority of “a presidential appointee, informally known as the ‘car czar.’” The deal isn’t risk-free for taxpayers, but having a single “autocrat” who can enforce a March 31 deadline for viability is a better option than bankruptcy.
If the “czar” can’t broker a deal that wrings enough concessions from the companies, labor, and suppliers to make GM and Chrysler competitive, said David Kiley in BusinessWeek online, the government can push them into bankruptcy March 31. But even with the czar’s “muscle to force reform” in Detroit, “several GOP senators steadfastly oppose” the bill, and its fate in the Senate is unclear.
Maybe Republicans would feel differently if the powerful auto czar were Mitt Romney, said Ezra Klein in The American Prospect online. Given his “Michigan roots,” his history salvaging failing companies, and his strong “political incentive to succeed,” he’s a “rather obvious candidate.”
The top candidate so far is Kenneth Feinberg, the “adept” special master of the Sept. 11 Victim’s Compensation Fund, said Jason Sattler in Wired online. Other names floated are Paul Volker, Renault Nissan head Carlos Ghosen, Lee Iacocca, and even Steve Jobs and Al Gore. But whatever turnaround “nanny” Washington lands on, you know that GM and Chrysler are honestly desperate if they’re willing to “let Washington put someone in the driver’s seat.”
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4 Comments
Posted by Steve, Thursday, December 11, 2008, 9:12 am I'm looking forward to the War on Cars. Hopefully it'll be just as effective as the War on Poverty and the War on Drugs...plus we'll have a federal agency granted the ability to confiscate cars and any surrounding buildings. It's a win-win!
Posted by Patrick O'Brien, Thursday, December 11, 2008, 12:01 pm Only twelve months ago,can anyone imagine the idea of federally controlled automobile companies? That idea would be considered comical. And make no mistake, billions of dollars and a federally appointed czar overseeing what were once private companies canot be seen as anything but socialism.
Posted by Allderblob, Thursday, December 11, 2008, 1:35 pm Yeah, war on this, war on that... pretty effective stuff. What we need is a new tactic. What about "Peace?" Let's have Peace on cars. With Peace on cars, there'd be consensus on one thing: cars haven't met the expectations we've placed on them. Cars, we forgive you. Now we can move on. With Peace on Cars we'd plow suburbia back into forests and farmlands, bring national train service (and public transit in cities) up to the Bulgarian standard (for starters), build liveable, walkable, bikable communities, and create jobs in sectors (like building the new trains and infrastructure to support them) that doesn't wreak the same havoc that the international automobile project did throughout the last century. Clearly it's in this last category that the new nationalized automobile companies will find their due. Good luck!
Posted by Gary DL, Thursday, December 11, 2008, 3:08 pm To maximize success, a "car guy" like Lee Iaccoca is needed. The other, competent and able though they may be, know little about the car business. Iaccoca has been there and done this - successfully - before. If he is willing and able, give him a chance!
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