All Hail The Car Czar (Barrons)
Dec. 16th, 2008 10:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ymarkovALL HAIL THE CAR CZAR? CONGRESS IS PLAYING dominance games again, so we can't be sure there will be an appointed overseer of the auto industry. The job may go to a bankruptcy judge after all.
But if there is one, President Bush could have a good opportunity to demonstrate how crazy a Detroit bailout really would be.
He could teach the country a valuable lesson by appointing Al Gore to run the U.S. auto industry. Everybody who says that Detroit refused to build fuel-efficient cars could learn why by observing Czar Gore in the role.
Or Bush could do the hard-working part of the auto industry an immense favor by appointing former GE Chairman Jack Welch, who earned the nickname Neutron Jack in the recession of 1991 for his willingness to fire the least productive blue- and white-collar workers.
How about Kenneth Feinberg, who ran the compensation fund for the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks? His experience with a government-funded charity created to address a disaster wrought by foreigners could be used to address a disaster made in the USA.
Speaking of experience, Bush could appoint Ross Perot, who was too far ahead of his time in pointing out the managerial weakness at General Motors. Or he could appoint Lee Iacocca, who has some actual experience managing a car company using financial aid from the government.
Our choice for the job, however, is none of the above. (Actually, our choice is to have no bailout and no car czar, but we still think there will be one.) We suggest to President Bush that he put responsibility for the state of the car industry right where it belongs. He should appoint Ron Gettelfinger, the head of the United Auto Workers union, to be the car czar. His union deserves at least half the blame being heaped on the industry and its managers. It would be interesting to see his ideas for repairing the damage.
None of these worthies is likely to be much help to the beleaguered car industry; instead of a car czar, it needs a lot less government oversight and regulation.
Editorial Page Editor THOMAS G. DONLAN receives e-mail at tg.donlan@barrons.com.
But if there is one, President Bush could have a good opportunity to demonstrate how crazy a Detroit bailout really would be.
He could teach the country a valuable lesson by appointing Al Gore to run the U.S. auto industry. Everybody who says that Detroit refused to build fuel-efficient cars could learn why by observing Czar Gore in the role.
Or Bush could do the hard-working part of the auto industry an immense favor by appointing former GE Chairman Jack Welch, who earned the nickname Neutron Jack in the recession of 1991 for his willingness to fire the least productive blue- and white-collar workers.
How about Kenneth Feinberg, who ran the compensation fund for the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks? His experience with a government-funded charity created to address a disaster wrought by foreigners could be used to address a disaster made in the USA.
Speaking of experience, Bush could appoint Ross Perot, who was too far ahead of his time in pointing out the managerial weakness at General Motors. Or he could appoint Lee Iacocca, who has some actual experience managing a car company using financial aid from the government.
Our choice for the job, however, is none of the above. (Actually, our choice is to have no bailout and no car czar, but we still think there will be one.) We suggest to President Bush that he put responsibility for the state of the car industry right where it belongs. He should appoint Ron Gettelfinger, the head of the United Auto Workers union, to be the car czar. His union deserves at least half the blame being heaped on the industry and its managers. It would be interesting to see his ideas for repairing the damage.
None of these worthies is likely to be much help to the beleaguered car industry; instead of a car czar, it needs a lot less government oversight and regulation.
Editorial Page Editor THOMAS G. DONLAN receives e-mail at tg.donlan@barrons.com.
