Steven Rattner?!?!?!
I’m with Josh. I’m not sure an expert in complex financial instruments is really what Detroit needs in an auto czar.
Democrats tell ABC News successful private equity investor Steve Rattner of the investment firm Quadrangle Group has emerged as President-elect Barack Obama’s leading candidate to be "car czar."
Known for brokering investment media deals, Rattner began his career as a reporter with the New York Times before leaving for the greener pastures of Wall Street. There, he rose quickly at places like Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, and Lazard Frères. Mr. Rattner is highly regarded for his financial acumen — so highly that a year ago, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg put his fortune — estimated to be worth as much as $13 billion — in Rattner’s hands.
Here’s the best part–someone who will fit in the Mid-Western culture of Detroit perfectly.
In Autumn of the Moguls author Michael Wolff described Rattner as "very smooth" with a mien of formality, reserve, efficiency, and soft-spokenness. "He is a kind of perfect museum-board member," Wolff wrote.
I remember the first time I got taken to a girlie bar in Thailand to watch Formula One with colleagues; I felt like I had finally lost my auto industry virginity (and, since you asked, I was the only Anglo woman in the bar and the only one not working). I wonder how Mr. Museum-Board Member likes titty bars?
I wonder if Mr. Museum-Board Member even drives his own car?
Though in the end, I suppose I shouldn’t complain. Usually when people give the kind of huge money that Rattner has, they get to be Ambassador to Paris. Rattner? He’s contemplating the privilege of serving as Ambassador to the Rust Belt.
“successful private equity investor”
In the present climate, how would one even characterize this type? He got out ahead of the crash of his counterparties? Decided avoid certain problems by not trying to wring the last dollar out of the boom?
is buffett buying autos? i doubt it..
New York Times — almost bankrupt.
Lehman Brothers — bankrupt.
Morgan Stanley — treading water.
A fine resume!
And I love Bloomberg’s diversification: one guy, 13 billion. Bernard Madoff’s kind of investor.
maybe the other choice was Homer Simpson
you don’t know it wasn’t …
Ahem. I knew about the one foray into the Thai netherworld and, because it involved the F1 Circus, was very approving thereof. BUT…
Seems to indicate multiple missions with the boys.
How many?
I gotta get some of EW’s cold medicine. She’s getting frisky on us. LOL!
Maybe the laidback finance expertise is a balance for the Cerberus ravening cur, though, true enough, as some of the car threads showed last month, the central part of the bell curve of American car buyers has a passion for racy appearance and yen for nice handling.
I think I almost had an invite to travel on vacation to Thailand, reportedly a ReLaxed place. That was several years ago, the year FEMA went instead after a storm from the ocean. I still remember my standard dictionary of monosyllabic lingo in English, however, but it is gathering shelf webs; it is helpful on the soundstage, too, provided one has committed it to memory. And mo town still has a vibrant music ambience. I wonder if TPM checked the entire resume; they were a tad hasty in the some of the DoJ nomination posts, though a wonderful site.
This appears to be the same Rattner who was a prime funder of Al Gore’s CurrentTV, cable/online media intended to address some of the public deceits and lies that Gore laid out so eloquently in “The Assault on Reason”. I think this is the correct link: http://current.com/
kspena, reading that certainly gives me the sense the neocons may well have been astutely played by Iran, or Russia. Or both.
I seem to recall that George W. once proclaimed disdainfully that he doesn’t “do” nuance. That is a conceit that comes easily to one who thinks of himself as the most powerful man on Earth.
Which must have sent shivers of delight up and down the spines of the leaders of Iran.
I recall also that Cheney abrogated to himself the Pakistan desk over at the State Department, which must have brought smiles to the faces of the Nameless Ones in Pakistan’s ISI. We have seen how well that has worked out.
I’m still worried about Obama, who wants to pour more US troops into Afghanistan, without having clearly defined our mission there yet. I have been worried about this for months, so I’m glad to see Rachel Maddow asking serious questions along those lines in her segment on Afghanistan tonight. Rachel knows how to ask the right questions. I think she should be the anchor for Meet the Press.
Bob in HI
I believe it was Pat Lang who wrote on his blog a while back something to the effect that “Iran plays chess; we barely know the rules for checkers.”
Whatever chance we might have had to effect a strategic outcome in Afghanistan favorable to US interests was blown way back in December,2001, when we let bin Laden and his gang slip through our fingers at Tora Bora. Bush, Cheney & Co. had already begun diverting resources from the Hindu Kush region to Iraq. Thus the first of the many strategic setbacks we’ve suffered as a result of the Iraq War took place even before that war of choice began.
I think he’ll do a good job of grasping and even formulating the restructuring plans of GM. He might even be able to shame Cerberus on Chrysler.
I’m curious why you think he’d be able to pick it up at all? I’m open to understanding that he would be. But there’s nothing I know of him besides big money and privilege–not exactly the culture to get the auto industry, not least bc one of the probs with Coasters lecturing the auto industry is that they don’t get that THEY’re not the market for 16 million cars–not even close.
There are two things you need to reorganize a company. You need someone who understands how to make the product. They are in place already, with years of experience and plans to move forward. Then you need someone really smart to look at the plan and fix it. People who have serious financial experience can look at a plan and understand the explanation, and make sure it has a real chance to work. They bring years of experience to bear on the problems, and there is every reason to think Rattner can do it.
Isn’t that premised on the assumption the problems are primarily financial and not marketing and logistics and a few other things?
Finance whizzes–which from my understanding, Rattner is–don’t necessarily understand diddly about marketing or logistics management.
I think that is right. But is a freaking creative finance whiz bang the right guy for what you are describing?? I don’t know about that at all. Making Chebbys ain’t like dreaming up derivitives and moving paper around like an investor.
I am just not so sure about the providence of this.
Okay, let me Emily Litella that.
Nevermind. Crikey, even with a stuffed up head she’s cleaning my clock to the punch.
Steven Rattner was one of the last minute donors to Joe Lieberman; he gave $4200 on 03-AUG-06.
As soon as I saw the name Rattner cross my desk, that’s the association I made: Lieberman.
That ought to be the kiss of death for any nomination as far as progressives are concerned.
Make sure it’s the same Rattner–there are several, plus a Ra-one t-version and this Rat-two t-version.
(anyone in so cal who wants to fill out the USGS “did you feel it?” survey for the little 5.0 jolt we just had, it’s actually kind of fun and doesn’t take long. USGS link)
Thanks, rosalind. I did feel it.
I got the USGS notification, but we didn’t feel it here in SD….
Here in Fallbrook we did. Doggies went nuts!
OT – Did I mention that it’s great to be a Florida Gator!
Well said!
It isn’t about the financial paper. It’s about having the acuity to see if the plan makes sense, and to make sure the company can explain it to someone smart enough to see through corporate BS. If so, the plan has a better chance of working, which is wy the guy is getting the job.
But is he doesn’t know squat about cars, how is he going to properly evaluate all the factors of auto manufacturing? What may look lame to a buttoned down suit in a Manhattan corner office may be the right thing in Detroit; how the heck is Mr. Armani gonna know?
OT-Did anyone else notice Obama’s use of the phrase, We need ‘A Clean Break’ in his speech today? I heard it as a knife in the gut of the neocons…a delightful bit of writing…
From Juan Cole today: Neoconservatism dies in Gaza
“The neoconservatives first laid out their manifesto in a 1996 paper, “A Clean Break,” written for an obscure think tank in Jerusalem and intended for the eyes of far right-wing Israeli politician Binyamin Netanyahu of the Likud Party, who had just been elected prime minister.”
http://www.salon.com/opinion/f…..index.html
SRattner: Donations, centrist D-NY.
Thanks for that, although the 8/2/06 amount is not exactly what I have on record.
EW — was aware of that single T versus double T. The single T Ratners of OH and IL, entire families of parents and kids each giving maximum inside the last minute window versus the double T Rattner with his single last minute donation were easily differentiated on the spreadsheet I’ve had of all last minute donations to Joey Bag o’ Donuts. Spreadsheet courtesy of Stoller way back in 2006, kept on file for vetting purposes among other things.
Cool. BC double T is not a bad person, single T family I am deeply suspicious of.
Heh. I think Jane cites the reason we have to be deeply suspicious of double T dude. Cerberus hadn’t crossed my mind, probably should have. Major conflict of interest there; don’t know why we are looking to anybody at all on Wall Street for this reason since nearly all them are in some way compromised.
(I am still watching for single T’s, with you on that one/many. Far too many unanswered questions about that last minute surge of money.)
Yep, that was kinda the basis of my thought at 16 above.
Yup, having rubbed shoulders with the kind of geeks who push money around as hedges I can tell you they don’t do marketing/branding nor do they grok engineering/manufacturing. Completely different breeds of cats. No way in hell in the corporate world that a real CEO worth his salt would select a Rattner type to be a czar.
Personally, I’d like to see a team of people and not a single czar; I’d like to see more academics involved, too, who are used to working outside the corporate world but have some chops with finance, marketing, engineering.
You know who seemed to get it pretty freaking well, and had the ivory business cred too? That Jeffrey Sachs dude that testified at the hearing. He seemed to have at least a basic grip on both sides of the equation.
I can see why; the man’s got Detroit in his DNA.
And an academic, too, background in sustainability.
Wonder who he’d pick for a team?
rOTL (46) — yeah, fresh air is good for people. Especially for people who are cooped up sweating over a hot machine all day, 8 to 12 hours without air conditioning, in an environment where one can’t escape the stench of machine oil, the grit of metal shavings, the constant noise that hearing protection only muffles, the pressure to make XX number of pieces exactly the same way every Y number of seconds all damned, mind-numbing day long, 5 to 7 days a week depending on demand, while avoiding any injury.
But yeah, we can’t let THESE guys have a golf course that may be hundreds of miles away from home which they can only use for very limited periods of time during the year. Heck no, if they congregate like that they might start to ask questions and we can’t have that.
Nope, golf courses are only for the kind of people who can pony up thousands of dollars for a year’s dues in advance, greens fees for guests, hundreds of dollars a month in bar and restaurant minimums and actual consumption, the kind of people who pay their accountants to figure out how to write it all off so they can pay fewer taxes for the road that got them to the course, or pays for the social services their caddy may need because the caddy can only work for 6 months a year here in northern climes.
Oh, gawd… don’t let me get started on access to golf courses… (sigh).
Sachs is an interesting idea. Especially at a time when Cerberus is probably in default or near it, which kind of underscores the validity of Sachs’ arguments about the fundamental shifts in the economies, political structures, and technologies that need to happen quickly. But I see him as advisor, not manager. If only Howard Dean were interested in the auto sector… his iconoclastic, strategic approach would be useful there.
Jeepers. Must be the first thing I have said in a while that people agree with.
I’m a recovering contrarian.
Well, don’t recover too completely. Need to keep you off-balance.
Heh ;-))
If I’m reading this correctly, you’ve also seen people who are able to think abstractly in magnificent ways, but their ability to do the ‘hands on’ stuff, or factor in engineering complications, is about nil.
And the world would probably be a much more civil place if more people of all backgrounds played a lot more golf. It gets people outside, getting exercise, being social.
Also, Judy Miller’s former BF, when they both worked for the Grey Lady….
Le gasp!
Still a rumor for now, but so long and so plausibly dreaded …
My impression of Rattner (culled over many years of “six degrees of separation” with others in NYC) is that he knows how to game the system. His best work is leveraging people/situations to amp his own resume/net worth.
I find the idea of him in this position to be absolutely ludicrous.
DRAFT STEVE JOBS FOR CAR CZAR
Also posted this comment at FDL, but man, Detroit needs somebody who knows how to make products people want to buy…not more of the same BS
Albert
Did you ever think about what cars would be like if they had the same error rate as–say–the second release of the iPhone?
I love Jobs.
But understand that it is a lot easier to “innovate” when there is a great tolerance for error.
A fair point.
I was thinking of Jobs the Great Marketer of Stuff That Poeple Want, and not of his contributions to them actually working, for which I would assume he Has People.
What EW said.
Big difference in quality expectations between several thousand pounds of mass sailing along on public roads under 70 to 200 horsepower valued at tens of thousands of dollars, or a couple hundred dollar cellphone.
Imagine what would happen to the auto industry if it produced a Jobs-innovated vehicle that forced drivers to make 166% greater errors during driving — like that of the first generation iPhone keyboards.
There wouldn’t be a second generation. And yet there was a 2G iPhone and many more to come, and people will stand in line overnight in front of AT&T stores to wait for their next batch of American-made, Jobs-led innovations replete with a new batch of error-causing boo-boos.
Goes to show you that the REAL problem for American automakers has been a 30+ year long failure in marketing and branding.
And will somebody like Rattner get that, or will he merely crunch the financials while believing all the anti-union hype about the automakers?
It’s incredibly easy to believe the anti-union hype when the UAW is maintaining a private golf course.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.c…..e-retreat/
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.c…..buy-booze/
Not to put a fine point on it, but isn’t there a car guy (or gal) somewhere in North America who could serve in the role of czar? There are plenty of good accountants and project managers available, but I’ll argue that if — and it’s an if in my mind — we need a “car czar”, it should be someone who understands the business, loves cars, and knows the technologies that will make great cars (which can be manufactured and sold for a profit) in the future.
Enough with the finance people, let alone finance people with ties to Lieberman.
Do you play golf on private courses? Seems like you don’t, because then you’d realize what a crock of shite that wisecrack is.
There are two country clubs in this Michigan town two hours north of Detroit in the corridor that serves the auto industry. Guess the political composition of the membership, and what they do for a living. Guess how many of them find a way to write off dues, greens fees, monthly minimums and meals at the club as business expenses.
Let’s take a look at all the private courses across the country, check the same kind of information.
One golf course as part of a retreat for blue collar workers and you’re going to whine about it? Seriously, bite me.
Speaking of which, I heard a rumor last week from a reliable source that a certain Fortune 100 company — NOT an automaker — was going to plunk down $26 MILLION into improvements for the country club in the company town.
Guess the overwhelming political affiliation of the town in which this may happen.
Give me a break about ONE golf course for blue collar workers.
Wow, defensive much? When the UAW is keeping a private course AND LOSING MONEY ON MAINTAINING IT, it’s fair game. Did you even read the article before going off on me?
Have you any ken about the golf course industry? Do your own damned homework; I’ve done mine.
Nearly ALL of them are struggling. The course my spouse belongs to knocked 30% off his annual fees and those of the rest of his league to keep them there — that’s desperation to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars in revenue for one league alone, to prevent them from going to other courses that are even more desperate. This state has lost approximately 25% of its courses over the last 8 years (which makes the state’s bizarre approval of a new course on Lake Michigan shoreline incredibly stupid).
Why are you haranguing about one course other than it’s owned by blue collar folks? Is it inconvenient to note how many golf courses owned by staunch conservatives are failing and being sold at auction? Or is it easier to parrot the right-wing talking points that bubbleheads like Malkin pass off as so much gas?
You might also be very careful about taking on the same winger talking points because the rest of the American golf industry that Malkin et al so studiously ignore as they bash one single golf course is whining about visas for foreign workers while complaining about the downturn in their industry. So much for improving America’s economy; buying American affects more than automakers and union workers.
I’m not parroting any talking points whatsoever. Did you even bother to read the articles I linked to in my original post? If they’re losing money on this, then they should think about getting rid of it.
smh…
I’m not going to read anything by Farago’s outlet. Period. He’s far from unbiased, and he’s got little in common with the Average Joe SixPack if all he’s willing to drive is a Porsche.
Extremely convenient that he’s going to tell the UAW what to do with their own money instead of telling the automakers how to make better cars. Extremely convenient that he’s down on the UAW in complete synchrony with the rest of the right-wing blogs who are screaming anti-union epithets.
Would be nice if certain people actually made a point of learning what it’s like to work on the line and get their hands dirty and stink of sweat for a living, instead of tooling around in a sports car 90% of Americans can’t afford while preaching.
… so you’d rather dismiss him outright because he makes a good case for GM to go into bankruptcy? Stay classy, Rayne. This isn’t about the unions. It’s about the survival of the domestic auto industry. smh…
We’ve discussed ad nauseum what bankruptcy would do to GM. You apparently missed all the discussions outlining the repercussions it would have on the myriad suppliers and on the retirees and other stakeholders. Farago could give a sh*t about the effect of bankruptcy on any of them because he has no concrete understanding of the business impact. As far as he’s concerned a car is something with four wheels that he either likes or doesn’t; he does not see see a car as a product of a rather complex global system.
It may be a system that needs housecleaning, but it’s a system that keeps the American economy moving, literally and figuratively; it’s entwined tightly with manufacturers of cars that pain-in-the-ass ignoramus Farago likes, allows them to make the very few foreign made cars he likes that the average American can’t afford, at the expense of those same Americans since they ultimately pay a big chunk of the R&D costs.
Yeah. Dismissed. Outright? Hardly. His puling was given far too much time and consideration already.