{"id":142,"date":"2008-12-21T12:23:18","date_gmt":"2008-12-21T18:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/music.sportsinnercity.com\/?p=142"},"modified":"2008-12-21T12:23:18","modified_gmt":"2008-12-21T18:23:18","slug":"obama-has-vision-for-auto-industry-ny-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicinnercity.com\/?p=142","title":{"rendered":"Obama Has Vision For Auto Industry (NY Times)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"abstract\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cnn.com\" target=\"_blank\">Companies must not squander this chance to reform,\u2019 says president-elect<\/a><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"caption\">By MICHELINE MAYNARD<a href=\"http:\/\/music.sportsinnercity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/t1home_obama_monday_gi.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-143\" title=\"t1home_obama_monday_gi\" src=\"http:\/\/music.sportsinnercity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/t1home_obama_monday_gi.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"source\">The New York Times<\/div>\n<div class=\"updateTime\"><span id=\"udtD\">updated <span class=\"time\">8:09 p.m.  PT,<\/span> <span class=\"date\">Sat., Dec. 20, 2008<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\n\t\tfunction UpdateTimeStamp(pdt) {\n\t\t\tvar n = document.getElementById(\"udtD\");\n\t\t\tif(pdt != '' &amp;&amp; n &amp;&amp; window.DateTime) {\n\t\t\t\tvar dt = new DateTime();\n\t\t\t\tpdt = dt.T2D(pdt);\n\t\t\t\tif(dt.GetTZ(pdt)) {n.innerHTML = dt.D2S(pdt,(('false'.toLowerCase()=='false')?false:true));}\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t}\n\t\tUpdateTimeStamp('633654293822300000');\n\/\/ --><\/script><\/div>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">DETROIT &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/cnn.com\" target=\"_blank\">President-elect Barack Obama leveled a stern  warning at General Motors and Chrysler<\/a> last week after the federal government  promised them billions to help them survive: \u201cThe auto companies must not  squander this chance to reform bad management practices.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">Once he takes office, the bailout will give him a tool to  prod the industry to change, but it will also test his resolve as he pushes it  in new directions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">Mr. Obama, after all, has been thinking out loud about  the future of the American automobile industry for years, well before his  presidential campaign began. He co-sponsored two bills in 2006, during his  second year as a United States senator \u2014 one to raise fuel economy standards,  and the other to encourage the use of alternative fuels.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">His writings and speeches on the auto industry suggest a  keen interest in finding ways, including new technology, to improve the fuel  efficiency of the cars and trucks that Americans drive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">But with Detroit in a fragile financial state, it is  unclear how many compromises he will have to make in pursuing his agenda for the  auto industry, as he juggles other priorities like providing a stimulus program  for the broader economy. The United Automobile Workers union, which backed Mr.  Obama, will want a say in the changes he envisions for the automakers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">And the car companies, which have long lead times to  develop products, will need sales of big trucks and sport utility vehicles,  which may pick up again as gas prices fall, to bring in much-needed revenue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">By all accounts, Mr. Obama\u2019s personal interest in the  industry stems from his interest in environmental issues, and he has a ready  resource about how the industry operates in Martin Nesbitt, a close friend who  worked in financial planning at G.M.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">Mr. Obama delivered his clearest prescription to the  automobile industry in May 2007, when he appeared at Cobo Convention Center in  downtown Detroit before an audience of 2,000 auto industry executives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">In a speech to the Economic Club of Detroit, Mr. Obama  said the Big Three had done little to lessen the nation\u2019s dependence on foreign  oil and needed to improve their vehicles\u2019 fuel efficiency.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">\u201cThe auto industry\u2019s refusal to act for so long has left  it mired in a predicament for which there is no easy way out,\u201d Mr. Obama said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">He added, \u201cFor years, while foreign competitors were  investing in more fuel-efficient technology for their vehicles, American  automakers were spending their time investing in bigger, faster cars. And  whenever an attempt was made to raise our fuel efficiency standards, the auto  companies would lobby furiously against it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">He suggested initiatives similar to the legislation he  had introduced in Congress, and which he emphasized in his campaign. They  included a 4 percent annual increase in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy  standards, equal to about one mile per gallon a year, and incentives for the  companies to develop more fuel-efficient cars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">Mr. Obama said he would provide up to $3 billion to  Detroit auto companies and their suppliers to retool their factories in order to  produce smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. Still, with gasoline prices  falling again, it is unclear whether consumer demand will shift so dramatically  to small cars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">Congress later included up to $25 billion for the  companies for the retooling. General Motors and Chrysler initially tried to tap  that money for their depleted cash reserves, before receiving assistance from  the Bush administration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">Environmentalists say the speech in Detroit was a sign of  commitment to prodding the auto companies to build more fuel-efficient vehicles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">\u201cI think he gets it,\u201d said Daniel Becker, director of the  Safe Climate Campaign for the Center for Auto Safety, a Washington consumer  advocacy group. \u201cThe speech at Econ Club was a brave one, but a thoughtful one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">Mr. Obama, who received standing ovations at the  beginning and conclusion of his speech, said he wanted to be blunt with the  Detroit companies on their home turf.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">\u201cI\u2019m making this proposal here today because I don\u2019t  believe in making proposals in California and giving a different speech in  Michigan,\u201d he said. His goal was \u201cnot to destroy the industry, but to help bring  it into the 21st century,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">A year earlier, in his 2006 book, \u201cThe Audacity of Hope,\u201d  Mr. Obama wrote that \u201cfuel-efficient cars and alternative fuels like E85, a fuel  formulated with 85% ethanol, represent the future of the auto industry. It is a  future American car companies can attain if we start making some tough choices  now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">He also did not spare the U.A.W. from criticism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">\u201cFor years,\u201d Mr. Obama wrote, \u201cU.S. automakers and the  U.A.W. have resisted higher fuel-efficiency standards because retooling costs  money, and Detroit is already struggling under huge retiree health-care costs  and stiff competition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">With Detroit in crisis, there is little room for  hesitation after Mr. Obama reaches office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">His Treasury Department will have to assess whether the  union and the companies have met the requirements of the loans given them by the  Bush administration, which legal experts say Mr. Obama could easily amend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">But he also has said that he wants to protect American  jobs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">Soon after President Bush finished announcing the terms  of the $17.4 billion in assistance for the auto companies on Friday, the U.A.W.  union was calling on Mr. Obama, for whom they rallied support in important  Midwestern states, to revise it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">They wanted him to discard a requirement that auto  workers agree to wage and benefit concessions that would bring their  compensation in line with that paid nonunion workers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">Mr. Obama was advised in the bailout discussions by a  former Federal Reserve chairman, Paul A. Volcker, who was at the Fed when  Congress approved assistance to Chrysler in 1979; Austan Goolsbee, a professor  of economics at the University of Chicago; and Joshua Steiner, a former Treasury  official with a background in restructuring.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">Brian Johnson, a veteran industry analyst with Barclays  Capital, said the outgoing Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., had \u201ctied  up this money with some string.\u201d He added that the \u201cU.A.W. is going to request  it to be untied, and the question is whether Obama will untie the string.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">On Friday, Mr. Obama reiterated in a statement that all  parties in the industry should have to give up something so the auto companies  could revive and change.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">\u201cThere are going to be some painful steps that have to be  taken,\u201d he said later at a news conference.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">No matter the steps Mr. Obama takes, he is likely to seek  a range of opinions. That is what happened in June 2006, when he invited a group  of environmental leaders to meet with him to discuss legislation that would  increase fuel economy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">At the time, none at the meeting knew that Mr. Obama  planned a presidential bid, said Mr. Becker, who was then representing the  Sierra Club.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">He said that Mr. Obama told them: \u201cIf you guys think this  is helpful, then I want to go ahead and push this. But if you don\u2019t think it\u2019s  helpful, I\u2019ll drop it. I don\u2019t have to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">Nonetheless, Mr. Becker, a longtime critic of Detroit\u2019s  environmental policies, said he did not believe that Mr. Obama would force the  car companies to submit to drastic measures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\">\u201cI don\u2019t think they need to be afraid of Obama. He\u2019s not  going to say \u2018by next Tuesday, everything has to be 40 miles per gallon,\u2019 \u201d Mr.  Becker said. \u201cBut in 10 years? Maybe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"textBodyBlack\"><em>Jackie Calmes contributed reporting from  Washington<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Companies must not squander this chance to reform,\u2019 says president-elect By MICHELINE MAYNARD The New York Times updated 8:09 p.m. PT, Sat., Dec. 20, 2008 DETROIT &#8211; President-elect Barack Obama leveled a stern warning at General Motors and Chrysler last week after the federal government promised them billions to help them survive: \u201cThe auto companies [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-politics","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicinnercity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicinnercity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicinnercity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicinnercity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicinnercity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musicinnercity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicinnercity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicinnercity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicinnercity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}