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Obama, task force want to offer more help to U.S. industry

Ralph Hanson

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1,682 views Mar 26, 2009

More loan funds will be coming, but the money will have strings attached

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No one really knows what to make of the auto market right now, least of all the industry itself. Fiat is forecasting blue skies, GM is on the brink of failing to meet a restructuring deadline, and Ford is still chartering private jets - but President Obama and the task force on the industry are prepared to hand out more lonas - at a price.

The price is a series of mandatory concessions and changes to the way the industry operates. "If they're not willing to make the changes and the restructurings that are necessary, then I'm not willing to have taxpayer money chase after bad money. And so a lot of it's going to depend on their willingness to make some pretty drastic changes," said the President.

Exactly what those changes might be, however, wasn't elaborated. Obama went on to refer to years of mismanagement and to a flawed economic model, but it's not clear what might be done to fix those problems - or even if those problems are the ones most likely to change things in the future, rather than merely being to blame for the present.

One thing that's clear from the President's task force report is that allowing Chrysler or GM to go into bankruptcy is not a favored option. Instead, the best solution - for the overall economy, as well as the businesses themselves - appears to be reform.

The holes left in the report and in Obama's statement today are expected to be filled in soon with the release of a clear timeline for action.