Political Punch

Leting the Wall Street types run the car business under the banner of "share Holder Value" is a major reason why we are where we are at today.

Until you sell cars & trucks you don't need "financial barnacles".

This guy probably like Obama never bought a car much less sell one!

The car czar title is about as ridiculous as the person taking the job. What does a former person from Wall Street know about auto production? It should be someone knowledgeable about the procedures needed for auto mfg. and sales. With the bailout given to the Big 3, their existence depends upon this one person. It should be one whom they can rely upon.

Apparently Jennifer Granholm is still too busy destroying the state of Michigan to consider the post. This was our last hope of getting rid of her. Ugh!

Paulsen hasnt even spent $700B let alone wasted it.

As much as people dont like it, TARP was necessary because of government rules that practically forced banks to loan money to non-credit worthy people. Those loan default which hurt bank liquidity.

Bush's energy task force said 7 years ago that there was not enough refining capacity. But the Democrats decided to play the issue for partisan political gain and ignored the issue.

Now every time there is a storm or maintainance at refineries, there is a potential disruption to the supply of gasoline, which increases prices.

No one is making money selling cars when gas is $4/gal. That why Toyota lost money too.

Further its ridiculous to say that the American manufactures make cars that no one wants to buy. GM, Ford and Chrysler sell over 50% of the cars. They sell a lot of cars.

The problem is that their costs are to high because of legacy union contracts. Those contracts were largely encouraged by the government decades ago.

How does a Car Czar fix any of this?

Wall Street Guru.......right! Look where these fat heads have gotten us now. I have lost a major amount of confidence in any thing connected with wallstreet.

If they were so smart why are we in this mess now? Paulson came from Wall Street, look what he did with 700 billion, wasted it.

Most Americans no longer trust Wall Street or Washington as far as they can spit. Do you really believe Washington knows better how to run automobile companies? Just look at Washingtons track record for oversite on the BIG Bank bailout.

Again I will say it....I will NOT do business with any company that has recieved a bailout!

The banks, Washington and Wall street continue to destroy consumer confidence with no end in site.

Car Czar, what a joke! Like that will help them sell more cars to the unemployed.

"get more refineries and pipelines approved"

surely the Bush family could have taken care of that - is that not their 'expertise'. they had 6 years in control of presidency and congress.

big oil, refineries, pipelines, billionaire saudi friends - why so little?

Mr Rattner will in the first place have to make a choice as indicated in the bestseller book "Compromise:. He leaves Wall St for bureaucratic service keeping his own investments or not.
New York as a city has prosecuted every major firm like Morgans for misbehaviour in the past few years.
Secondly for some reason of behaviour America loves to jail its citizens and those who do things eg Martha Stewart and Hilton and I was about to write Thomas Edison.
i will add a note here that the reason Diamond says Communists fail is that they cannot --cannot-- allow for invention and creativity so as to threaten the elite--
Vice versa and hence the problem Claus Offe the famous communist for capitalist political scientist says the capitalist state in the end has to intervene in the end to preserve the status quo-- Thatn the capitalist state has just done and is doing big time.
The fanmous french canadian usa political scientist says the CEOs of America are communistic -- including the ideas of self bonuses.
The failure to solve the securities of assets of the motor industry in this second world depression [ last depression tractor manufacturers were demanding more and more sales and production in the height of the depression and got the money in hometown New York-- Not so today-- so there is a difference.
I hope Mr Rattner readfs White the NY novelist and Tocquiville because madame la gullitone is still in the shadows

certainly, the country needs new leadership in many areas to avoid such downturns that cannot be managed economic changes. we were always taught to save for a rainy day, and it seems that the car companies didn't, nor did they properly prepare for a nation in flux. follow what the experts have done successfully and your chances of success increase. i don't see mobil/exxon asking for a bailout... we need better management of incoming funds and this won't happen in the future no matter the circumstances. we're talking about too much money to end up in such a mess before the public's eyes, and our belief that big-business cannot manage their own. also, with proper overseeing we have a chance to stop the bleeding where we can't see it existing, giving the people (the workers) an opportunity to prosper when things are good and not give it all away to the higher-ups, who don't change during the lows...

I think Dave W said it as clear as anyone. . .

Cars sold in this market already have to meet high federal safety standards. Then they have to meet high federal emission standards. Then they have to meet high federal mileage standards. And I'm not complaining. But if a company meets all those requirements, but in the end cannot produce vehicles that people desire, then they need to be left to die.

If we MUST have a car czar, let his sole responsibility be the successful outplacement of affected workers.

I see that the Pres Elect is hooking up all of his buds or his cabinet's buds. So much for a difference.

The high cost of fuel this past year did serious damage to our economy and society. After a brief reprieve gas prices are inching back up again. Our nation should not allow other nations to have such power over us and our economy . We have so much available to us in the way of technology and free sources of energy. WE seriously need to get on with becoming an energy independent nation. We are spending billions upon billions in bail out dollars. Why not spend some of those billions in getting alternative energy projects set up. We could create clean cheap energy, millions of badly needed new green jobs and lessen our dependence on foreign oil all in one fell swoop. I just read an eye opening book by Jeff Wilson called The Manhattan Project of 2009. It would cost the equivalent of 60 cents per gallon to drive and charge an electric car.If all gasoline cars, trucks, and SUV's instead had plug-in electric drive trains, the amount of electricity needed to replace gasoline is about equal to the estimated wind energy potential of the state of North Dakota. Why don't we use some of the billions in bail out money to bail us out of our dependence on foreign oil? This past year the high cost of fuel so seriously damaged our economy and society that the ripple effects will be felt for years to come.

"What they need is a single payer government administered healthcare plan to take their retiree and current employee medical costs off their back so can they afford to build better smaller cars at a profit. "

They need to unload the high union cost structures that the government pressured them into in the contract negotiations in the '80's and '90's.

Job bank has to go.
Retiree costs need to be controlled
Union rules need to be made more flexible.

Most important is probably gas prices. People dont want to buy a car when the operating costs are so high. Toyota is losing money too- should we bail them out? Building small cars isnt the answer.

If he wants the car companies to survive, Obama should forget most of the terrible ideas he ran on- such as raising taxes on the Oil companies. And get more refineries and pipelines approved.

The Big Three don't need a car czar to tell them how to run their businesses. What they need is a single payer government administered healthcare plan to take their retiree and current employee medical costs off their back so can they afford to build better smaller cars at a profit. Without that they and all American businesses starting with manufacturing are uncompetitive.

A private equity person is appropriate for this role. Private equity groups run highly indebted companies in need of restructuring. I hope he does well because he'll be very unpopular in Detroit.

I respect this guys background but have to note my reluctancy to adding these "CZARS" everytime we need to solve problems. They add another layer of bureaucracy and don't have real czarlike powers to get things done.

The whole point of adding a czar to solve a problem like managing a whole industry is that with a czar you get an outsiders perspective.

The problem with this is these auto companies already have outsider perspectives..the CEO of Chrysler ran Home Depot 2 years ago..the CEO of Ford ran Boeing 2 years ago...they were both very successful CEO's where they were before....why haven't they delivered then...what makes you think the CZAR then will be able to.

I guess as the tax payers are loaning the money he then becomes our representaive, but why not get a managemnte team at the conomany that has good leadership?

I am guessing they got him more for his sort of negotiation skill in taking apart companies and putting them together...the bailout loans they got will come up soon for renewal and he can be the guy that negotiates with the autoworkers, the creditors and all the resusccittate the company....he really isn't the car czar..he is just overseeing a government program/effort that loans to two automakers.

where are the great old career civil servants who are not going to be drawn in to the crisis of mismanagement?

Another paper Titan supposed to make a difference resulting from decdes of mismanagement?

"Known for brokering investment media deals..."

So how is he more qualified than car guys to run a company, let alone three?

"he quickly began raising campaign cash for him as well, bringing in more than $100,000 for the then-Illinois senator's successful campaign. Rattner's wife Maureen White is a former fundraising chair for the Democratic National Committee. "

oh, got it.

Green tech is certainly taking off into the Big Money sector. Retooling existing car manufacturing plants into producing hybrids would take at least two years and probably require a czar of some kind. I guess it's goodbye to the days when green was considered fringe and not taken seriously.