Car Czars

We have had vigorous debate about the government's helping of Detroit (see GM: General Mess). I have argued there is no 'saving' of GM and Chrysler except through bankrupcy, at least not through loan programs as proposed by the government. So, I'm reading a WSJ article about Obama's "Auto Task Force" describing their approach.

The article describes the team as such:

"In session after session in a warren of offices at the Treasury Department, the team has sat through tutorials on dealer financing, studied basic data and debated the future of U.S. car sales. They have spent days trying to understand the complexities of the hundreds of companies that supply the car companies with axles, seats and other parts.

...Rattner [the team's leader-BS] compares the challenge to a complicated puzzle. 'It's like a Rubik's cube, trying to untwist it and trying to get all the colors to line up,' he said in an interview. "So we've learned a lot about how cars dealers work, and how companies get paid when they sell a car to a dealer, and why there are a certain number of dealers more than optimal. Have we learned everything? Of course not, but I think we are learning what we need to learn to do this job.'

...Several team members, such as Brian Deese, a 31-year old former Obama campaign aide, are on loan from the White House's National Economic Council. Three others specialize in climate change. The rest come from agencies such as the Energy Department and Labor departments. Backing them up are about 30 accountants and advisors." (emphasis mine-BS)

In other words, a bunch of academics are cramming to understand the problem. Now, I have the utmost respect for academics, but careers in government are no substitute for real managerial business experience. These people are not going to grasp the situation the same as others who have been digesting and pondering the industry for years. There is simply no substitute for deep comprehension of a problem (after all, they are first learning that too many dealers are bad and how a company gets paid! Puhleeze). To think this group is going to find the magic bullet is a bit credulous.

Unlike Rush Limbaugh, I do hope Obama's team succeeds and we find me eating these words later. Perhaps there is a novel solution, but I remain highly skeptical until they actually propose something with potential. Until then, this whole endeavor strikes me a political move along the lines of "hey we studied this in depth; we tried, but there was nothing the doctor could do."