Steven Rattner, who led the Obama administration's efforts to bail out the struggling auto industry earlier this year, says things were even worse than we thought. Now back in the private sector, Rattner has begun to discuss his experiences.
Writing for Fortune magazine, Rattner says, "Everyone knew Detroit's reputation for insular, slow-moving cultures. Even by that low standard, I was shocked by the stunningly poor management that we found, particularly" at General Motors. GM executives, Rattner says, worked "sequestered on the uppermost floor" of the company's headquarters "behind locked and guarded glass doors." They had little interaction with the company's workforce, and "seemed to believe that virtually all of their problems could be laid at the feet of some combination of the financial crisis, oil prices, the yen-dollar exchange rate, and the" United Auto Workers union.
Rattner believed the government had no choice but to try to save the company, according to the Detroit News. In a recent speech, he told members of the Brookings Institution, "If GM had gone down, it would have dragged Ford down too and you would have seen the total liquidation of all three companies." With more than a million retirees' pensions and benefits at stake, "It would have had a massive impact." GM, he told listeners, was "deeply troubled," but still "a global company with improving products, the second-largest market share in the U.S."
Rattner defends the administration's decision to ask for the resignation of CEO Rick Wagoner, writing in Fortune, "I was stunned by the suggestion that the government, GM's only source of fresh capital, was somehow out of bounds for asking for the resignation of a CEO who had lost $13 billion of taxpayer money in three months and was now asking for more."
Those interested in more of the story may not have to wait long. Motor Trend reports, "Rattner says a book may be in his near future."
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