A Romanian man, named Ion Mihai Pacepa, who was the so-called 'Car Czar' wrote a very eloquent article (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124381203054570397.html) in the Monday, June 1, edition of the WSJ about when he was commissioned by then dictator Ceausescu to run the car industry in Romania. His previous job? The head of the Romanian industrial espionage program. With no experience running a company, nor having never worked in the auto industry, his job was to build a car that was "Good enough for the idiots," Ceausescu decided. While 3 western companies (doesn't say whom) competed for the project of a 'model' car, it was French owned Renault who won the license. The first car assembled was "Too luxurious for the idiots," Ceausescu decreed and immediately had the radio, the right side mirror and backseat heating dropped (it gets darn cold in Romania in the winter). Other "unnecessary luxuries" were eliminated by bureaucrats and the worker's union that was running the factory. The final car, named Dacia, that hit the market was the 'stripped-down version of the stripped down version of the Renault 12.' Ceausescu approved that this car was "Perfect for the idiots." No Dacia car was ever sold in the U.S. and sales were abysmal in Romania. Undaunted, Ceausescu tasked Pacepa to build yet another car as he was determined to have Romanian cars on the roads in the country and abroad. The new car was named Oltcit and designed by Citroen. Ceausescu who didn't know how to drive a car let alone run an auto industry demanded that the components for the Oltcit be manufactured in the 166 plants throughout Romania. Let's just say, that it would prove an impossible task and the project lost billions of $$.
Other examples that Pacepa lays out was the Trabant. The East German govt designed this car and 'what rolled off the assembly line was a kind of horseless carriage that roared like a lawn mower and polluted the air worse than a whole city block of big Western cars.' Its production was stopped, labeled an embarrasment, and now the cars that are piled high in junkyards cannot be recycled because burning the 'plastic covered cardboard bodies would release poisonous dioxins.'
Let's not forget how unbelievably unreliable the Jaguar was when the British Govt produced the car. When Ford bought the nationalized British car maker in 1988he is quoted as saying, "Apart from some Russian factories in Gorky, Jaguars were the worst."
Ah, the successes of government run auto makers. Our fate, of course, will be dramatically different because Obama would never appoint someone to oversee the auto-industry that has no experience running an auto-manufacturer, right? Ah, think again fools!
Fast-forward to present day America, where a 31-year old who has not yet graduated from Yale Law School will now rewrite American capitalism and be tasked with dismantling General Motors (aka Government Motors). Here is his bio according to wikipedia: Brian Deese works at the National Economic Council and is special assistant to the president for economic policy. Previously, he served as a member of the Economic Policy Working Group for the Obama-Biden transition.[1] He emerged as "one of the most influential voices" in the Obama Administration relative to the auto industry, and specifically the Chrysler and GM workouts.[2] He has appeared in videos posted on change.gov by the transition team.[3] Before joining the transition team, he was deputy economic policy director for the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign[4] and, before that, for Gene Sperling in the 2008 Clinton campaign.[2] He graduated from Middlebury College in 2000 with a degree in Political Science[5] and is now on leave from Yale Law School.[6] Previously, he was a senior policy analyst for economic policy at the Center for American Progress.[7] Brian also worked as a research assistant at the Center for Global Development[8], hired by founder Nancy Birdsall, according to The New York Times,[2], where he co-authored the book Delivering on Debt Relief.
Keep in mind that Center for American Progress is one of the most far left organizations in the country, run by John Podesta. How does a person who graduated with a degree in Poly Sci, is on leave from Yale Law School, did not major or specialize in economics, and never run a company, let alone worked in the auto industry get the position of overseeing the collapse and 'rebuild' of the largest car manufacturer in the world? Politics maybe?
For the American taxpayer to get its money back, the smaller version of GM must achieve a market capitalization of $80 billion so that we get back our $50 billion. At GM's value peak in 2000, its market cap was $56 billion. So we must now take a smaller version of the original leading car manufacturer on the planet, and grow its market cap by more than 60% in order for you and I to get the return of our money. Does anyone really believe that this is going to happen? Can someone explain this to me?
This is mind blowing! If you can't see the politics involved here and that this project to be overseen by someone who has absolutely no idea what he is doing is doomed to fail, then I don't know how more obvious you need it to be. Funny that the 'negotiated' labor agreement with the UAW is set to be renegotiated in 2 years by an Obama administration running for re-election and will need to weigh keeping Big Labor happy versus the return of the taxpayer-shareholders money. Guess who will win that White House debate? Best of luck Detroit, your fate lies in the hands of a 31 year old graduate from Middlebury College, which the college to its credit has a very good reputation with its recognized strengths being Liberal and Environmental Studies along with Activism. Activism is synonymous with protest and dissent. Trust me, if GM fails AGAIN, there will be plenty of protest and dissent. And that is a task Deese should be very familiar with.
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