Bailout Watch 561: PTFOA Steve Rattner: Psycho Killer?

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

File this one under “You’re Talking a Lot, But You’re Not Saying Anything.” The Detroit News‘ “wide ranging” interview Presidential Task Force on Automobiles (PTFOA) jefe Steve Rattner’s ranges entirely over well-trodden ground. In fact, you’ve got to give the DetN credit for publishing an entire pow-wow with the man behind the meltdown without revealing a GD thing. Well, other than the between the lines stuff. Like the “I’m a car guy now” subtext to this lump of coal: “We found that the game plan that we had designed back in the March time period actually worked,” “Chooch” Rattner told the Detroit News. “It’s like you build a new car and you take it out and you test drive it and it actually works. It made us feel pretty good going into GM — even though we know GM is bigger and more complicated — that we should be able to accomplish a similar result albeit over a slightly longer period of time.” I like that sense of surprise: this thing actually works! Wing and a prayer GM engineering at its best. Anyway, more . . .

“We get it when people tell us that the culture of GM needs to change,” Rattner said. “We agree. The management change that the president announced back on March 30 was the first step of that. Fritz is doing a great job of embracing the need for change, but now it has to happen.”

How does that square with this?

“Our view is that both companies have announced very thoughtful, measured, fair restructuring plans with shared sacrifice. Now they should be left alone to implement them.”

Hmmm. Maybe GM CEO Fritz Henderson should file THAT discrepancy under “Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better run run run run run run run away.” Certainly, there are signs of psychopathology. “[Rattner] rejected criticism that the administration had used bankruptcy law to force unfair concessions on secured creditors. ‘This idea that we broke bankruptcy law or made new law is ridiculous,’ Rattner said.” And that’s that, I suppose.

No. Wait. One more: “Rattner said the government would look to sell its auto stakes as soon as possible.” Thank God the DetN didn’t push him for a more precise timeline. There could have been blood everywhere.

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • Commando1 Commando1 on Jun 16, 2009

    You forgot to use the metaphor "throw jello on the wall and see what sticks".

  • Carlos.negros Carlos.negros on Jun 16, 2009

    Anyone with whom you disagree with politically is now a Psycho Killer. Quite hateful, really. Face it. The bankruptcy was reviewed by the judge, the court of appeals and the supreme court. Your side lost, just like it lost the last election.

  • Rochester "better than Vinfast" is a pretty low bar.
  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
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