BREAKING: Rattner reportedly quitting post as head of Auto Task Force
by Jeremy Korzeniewski on Jul 13th 2009 at 5:28PM 
Steve Rattner, the former Wall Street executive who was tapped by the Obama Administration run point for the Auto Task Force, is reportedly stepping down after five months on the job. According to a statement from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Rattner (above, far right) will now "transition back to private life and his family in New York City." He added, "I hope that he takes another opportunity to bring his unique skills to government service in the future."
With Chrysler and General Motors recent emergence from bankruptcy, now is probably as good a time as any to transition to new Task Force leadership. Taking over for Rattner will be Ron Bloom, a former advisor to the United Steel Workers union. Bloom's main focus will reportedly be to "[protect] the substantial investment the American taxpayers have made in GM, Chrysler and GMAC."
[Source: The Detroit News | Image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
BigWill 5:47PM (7/13/2009)
Guess it's time to leave government "service" and cash in on the damage he has wrought.
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jinushaun 8:23PM (7/13/2009)
What damage? Oh, you mean the decades of horrible management by GM and Chrysler that lead to their bankruptcy?
mr.ed 6:31AM (7/14/2009)
He screwed the suppliers and saved the banks. Unexpected, given his background and buddies, no?.
Sgt. Hulka 3:41PM (7/14/2009)
I'm sure Mr. Bloom will be forwarding all pertinent corporate info to his brethren in the UAW.
God help the taxpayers and economy of this once great manufacturing powerhouse.
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Mr.Oak 6:11PM (7/13/2009)
Hulka: Your prayers are kinda late. Would have been more appropriate when major corporations started shipping jobs overseas at the behest of Wall Street.
Really, how much more screwed up could America be than it was last December. The thing is , Obama could get everything wrong and the economy will still be better than it was back then.
Tim 11:37PM (7/13/2009)
Ugh, I don't even know what to say about the misunderstanding of the economy as presented by some of the comments here.
What I will say is that Obama absolutely could make things worse; if you don't think so you don't know anything about economics. Deficit spending works in the short-run, but in the long-run it wreaks havoc on the driving forces of any economy: consumption and investment. This isn't to say that Bush's (or Clinton's, he merely raided social security to make the budget look balanced) deficits were any better, the government and politicians in general clearly have a chronic overspending problem. Furthermore, Obama hasn't done anything to correct the actual cause of the crisis (which, btw, has been building since the '70s).
paul34 6:07PM (7/13/2009)
How many more years until the next set of bailouts to "prevent bankruptcy," then another bankruptcy right after?
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Dave 6:20PM (7/13/2009)
Years? That seems pretty optimistic.
Sean Flanagan 6:48PM (7/13/2009)
"a former advisor to the United Steel Workers union"
...and I think that's all I have to say about that.
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Tim 11:42PM (7/13/2009)
If only Roger Smith was still alive they could make him and this union flacky joint leaders. (this is obviously sarcasm since if you are going to point to any two entities for GM's downfall it would be the UAW and Roger Smith)
Bobmarley 8:35AM (7/14/2009)
Poll - When whill GM be back for more $$$
- 6 months
- 1 year
- 2-3 years
- 4-5 years
- Never!
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Frank 9:22AM (7/14/2009)
If the economy stays in the doldrums: 6 months or 1 year
If the economy recovers: 2-3 years or 4-5 years
fixitfixitstop 11:25AM (7/14/2009)
"With Chrysler and General Motors recent emergence from bankruptcy"
"Emergence from bankruptcy" implies that they are no longer bankrupt to me. Am I right?
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Charlie 8:09AM (7/15/2009)
Do you have anything with a little less rat in it?
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