Bailout Rape of Taxpayer Accelerates

Rattner shilling for the Detroit Duds GM & Chrysler

GM, Chrysler May Need ‘Considerably’ More Aid, Rattner Says
http://tinyurl.com/cv5hcd

March 20 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC may need
“considerably” more government aid than their request for as much as
$21.6 billion, said Steven Rattner, the U.S. Treasury’s chief auto adviser.

“It could be considerably higher, I won’t deny that,” Rattner said, when
asked whether U.S. aid sought could rise to $30 billion or $40 billion.
Rattner spoke in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political
Capital with Al Hunt,” scheduled to air today.

Rattner and President Barack Obama’s auto task force are assessing
proposals from GM and Chrysler and deciding whether to recommend
additional aid or tip the car companies into bankruptcy. Rattner said
the task force will give its “sense of direction” before March 31.
Chrysler and GM have received $17.4 billion since December and requested
more last month.

“What they’ve asked for depends on them achieving plans that are
somewhat ambitious,” Rattner said. “Like all management teams they tend
to take a reasonably, slightly perhaps, optimistic view of their
business. So it could be more, I can’t rule that out.”

Rattner said he may set a deadline for parties including the United Auto
Workers and GM bondholders to reach a deal on concessions.

“Part of why there’s a lack of appearance of movement is nobody wants to
go first,” Rattner said. “You say here’s the deadline, everybody has to
get there by this date or we’re going to do something else.”

‘Constructive Way’

GM’s bondholders “are looking to the government to help them solve their
problem,” Rattner said. “The government cannot solve everybody’s
problems, and we need for the bondholders to become part of this in a
constructive way.”

Chrysler’s proposal to give Italian carmaker Fiat SpA a 35 percent stake
is “a worthy idea to consider,” Rattner said. Chrysler’s numbers show
the company “just kind of barely making it” as a stand-alone entity and
managing to “just kind of inch along.”

“There’s no real uptick, no real sense that the company would generate
meaningful amounts of cash flow on a stand-alone basis,” Rattner said of
Chrysler. “We have not made a determination on whether they could exist
on a stand-alone basis, but we do find their idea of partnership with
Fiat a worthy idea to consider.”

Rattner said any decision about GM and Chrysler management would be tied
to the ultimate configuration of the companies “and I’m not in a
position to comment on that today.”

GM Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner and Chrysler’s Robert Nardelli
have been “exceptionally cooperative,” “thoughtful,” and “energetic,”
Rattner said.

“They’re good guys really trying hard to run those companies,” Rattner
said. “I have nothing bad to say about them.”

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Civis Romanus Sum