A card-carrying MOTU thinks Europe should follow the U.S. example

what a bunch of hooey...

Roger Altman: America’s blueprint for saving Europe’s banks

The financial crisis struck the US harder and more quickly than it did Europe. The complete freezing of credit markets required an immediate and overwhelming intervention – and the American fiscal and monetary authorities delivered it.

Between the Federal Reserve, Treasury and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, approximately $13,000bn of credit support was arranged for financial institutions in late 2008 and 2009.

There was no alternative to this massive reaction, and it worked. US credit markets are now healthy, and the recapitalised banking system is stable. History will look favorably on the boldness of America’s response. [emphasis added]

so, who is this guy roger altman anyway...?

wikipedia...

Altman holds a B.A. from Georgetown University and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

He was a general partner of Lehman Brothers from 1974 to 1977. From 1977 to 1981 he served as the Assistant Secretary of the United States Department of the Treasury, during which time he helped oversee the then-troubled financial affairs of Chrysler. In 1981, he returned to Lehman Brothers, where he became the co-head of investment banking and served on the board of the company and the management committee. During the 1980s, he was a lecturer and adjunct professor at the Yale School of Management. In 1987, Altman joined the newly-formed Blackstone Group as vice-chairman, head of its mergers and acquisitions advisory business and a member of the investment committee.

Altman served as the Deputy Treasury Secretary, before resigning in 1994 following a record-keeping scandal. In 1996, instead of returning to Blackstone he co-founded Evercore Partners, a boutique advisory and private equity investment firm in New York City, and currently serves as firm's Chairman.

Altman has served as advisor to two presidential candidates: John Kerry in 2004, and Hillary Clinton in 2008.

Altman is founder and chairman of Evercore Partners, which advised on the GM deal. Evercore, after being paid $46 million by GM pre-bankruptcy, asked for a $17.9 million "success fee." A U.S. bankruptcy trustee termed the fees "staggering" and "inordinately large" and said it "clearly exceeds the bounds of reasonableness" given that "Evercore had no success at finding a purchaser or funder for the Debtors."

Altman is listed as a member of the Steering Committee of The Bilderberg Group, a controversial group of influential business and government leaders who meet annually behind closed doors under a media blackout to discuss world issues. In 2009, Altman was on the list of Bilderberg conference attendees in Greece. [emphases added]

yep... altman is the guy the financial times thinks we should all be listening to... i don't think so...

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Ya just gotta laugh at another context-free NYT "news" story

so... lemme get this straight... gm is moving away from government involvement in its operations... hmmmmm...

Profit Strong, G.M. Names a New Chief

A transition at the top, for a successor chosen by General Motors’ board, was taken as a sign of the government’s shrinking role in the automaker.

[...]

[T]he company underscored its rapid pace of change when its chief executive, Edward E. Whitacre Jr., said he would be leaving on Sept. 1 — a clear indication of the federal government’s shrinking role in overseeing the company. Federal officials said they had no involvement in the G.M. board’s choice of one of its members, Daniel F. Akerson, as Mr. Whitacre’s successor.
[emphasis added]

it's stunning to me how what passes for journalism in this country can blithely leave out any reference whatsoever to the bio of the guy who's taking over gm... not once in the article is mr. akerson's background cited...

here is daniel akerson's bio from his previous principal employer, the carlyle group, well-known for its government-private sector revolving door...

Daniel F. Akerson
Managing Director
Washington , DC

Daniel F. Akerson is a Managing Director of The Carlyle Group and is the Head of Global Buyout. He serves on the firm's Executive Committee and is based in Washington, DC.

Mr. Akerson is a seasoned executive with extensive operating and management experience having served as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer or President of several major companies, including General Instrument, MCI, Nextel and XO Communications. His corporate management experience, private equity track record and deep understanding of Carlyle’s global operation provide a strong foundation for his leadership of Carlyle’s buyout activities in Asia, Europe, Financial Services, Infrastructure, Japan and the United States.

Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Akerson served in several key roles at MCI Communications Corporation from 1983-1993 including Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 1987-1990 and President and Chief Operating Officer from 1992-1993. During his tenure, Mr. Akerson formulated and executed MCI’s global strategy. Mr. Akerson left MCI in 1993 to become a General Partner of private equity firm Forstmann Little & Company, during which time he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Instrument Company from 1993-1995. While at General Instrument he lead a successful effort to develop and deploy the first digital video, satellite and cable systems domestically and internationally. Following that, Mr. Akerson served as Chairman from 1996-2001 and Chief Executive Officer of Nextel Communications, Inc., from 1996-1999 where he transitioned the company from a regional analog walkie/talkie provider into a unique, leading edge national digital wireless competitor. From late 1999 until January 2003, Mr. Akerson served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of XO Communications, Inc. where he led the successful restructuring of the company.

Mr. Akerson earned his B.S. in engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and his M.Sc. in economics from the London School of Economics.

Mr. Akerson is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Express Company, Booz Allen Hamilton, Freescale Semiconductor and General Motors Company.

well, let's hear it for ol' dan... i don't know about you, but i sure will rest easier knowing that ol' dan is steering general motors away from government oversight, the same thing he's no doubt doing for booz allen...

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Eating your young - General Motors couldn't find its ass with both hands

i visited the saturn facility a number of years ago and was vastly impressed with the fact that a hide-bound company like gm could create a greenfield start-up and give it enough freedom and autonomy to actually succeed... at the time, i was working with united airlines, a company that was essentially trying to do the same thing with shuttle by united and the indianapolis maintenance base... interestingly enough, at that time, the concerns and obstacles cited by the saturn employees were exactly the same as those being cited by those working on the shuttle product and those folks - like me - who were feverishly trying to make a success out of the new maintenance base, namely, being ground into dust by the need for the home office folks to do everything by THEIR book rather than allowing something new and different to flourish...

so...

tragically, gm has decided to torpedo the best thing it ever had going for it...

what a bunch of fools...

General Motors Co. said Wednesday it would shut down its Saturn brand after an agreement with Penske Automotive Group Inc. to acquire it fell apart.

Penske, citing concerns of whether it could continue to supply vehicles after a manufacturing contract with GM ran out, ended talks with GM Wednesday to acquire the brand.

GM CEO Fritz Henderson said in statement that Saturn and its dealership network will be phased out.

patético...

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Waking up on Monday morning and checking out the headlines

hmmmmmm...

Filing Marks the End of Financial Independence for Industrial Icon

U.S. would own 60 percent of the new automaker under administration's restructuring plan, which company investors say unfairly favors the UAW.

Judge Approves Chrysler Sale

Approval of sale of assets to Fiat clears way for U.S. automaker to exit bankruptcy protection.

Air France Flight Missing

Jet, flying from Brazil to Paris with 228 people on board, hit strong turbulence, the airline says.

so, lemme see...

as taxpayers, we now own yet another major automobile manufacturer, in the not too distant future we'll be able to buy fiats in the u.s., and the air france flight from rio to paris is the same flight i took two years ago...

ok, so much for monday morning...

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GM axing 1100 out of 6000 dealerships and, besides dumping Pontiac, is putting Saturn, Hummer and Saab on the block

as with the news yesterday about chrysler (see previous post), i wonder what this is going to do to unemployment figures... you can be sure it will be ugly...

GM to Slash 1,100 Dealerships

General Motors is notifying 1,100 of its 6,000 dealers today that it will not renew their franchise agreements when they expire by October 2010.

This is the automaker's first step in slashing 40 percent of its retail network as part of a major restructuring aimed at reviving the company. GM plans to shrink its dealer network down to 3,600 dealers by the end of next year.

GM said over 90 percent of the remaining dealers will be offered a chance to remain with the company.

The automaker has announced it will no longer continue the Pontiac line and is now in the process of looking for buyers for Saturn, Hummer and Saab. The company said it will be soon be updating those 470 dealers on the status of those jettisoned brands.

can the news of gm's bankruptcy be far behind...?

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GMAC needs to raise $13.1B in capital but there's something in the story I don't get

ok, here's the snippet with the part i don't get in bold...

The Federal Reserve has ordered the financing arm of General Motors to raise $13.1 billion in new capital to ensure the firm's stability in the face of heavy losses in mortgage and auto lending and costs related to taking over new loans for Chrysler dealers and customers, said sources familiar with talks between government and industry officials.

The sum is among the biggest required for any U.S. financial institution, and could prove difficult for GMAC to raise because of the limited nature of its business and poor quality of its loans. The firm has struggled in the past to raise money from private investors and has already received $5 billion in federal assistance. It is likely that the federal government would end up providing much, if not all, of the needed capital, but it remained unclear where that money would come from.

how does that square with the bofa story from yesterday (see earlier post) that said bofa needed $34B in capital... i'm not a math whiz but it seems to me $34B is a significantly larger sum than $13.1B... am i wrong...?

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The Prez asks GM CEO to step down and also reportedly intervened to stop the massacre in Gaza

hmmmm... maybe there's more going on behind the scenes than i thought...

general motors...

The chief executive of struggling US car company General Motors - Rick Wagoner - has agreed to step down.

He will leave his post immediately at the request of the White House, a government official confirmed.

[...]

In an interview with US broadcaster CBS, President Obama said the firms must do more to justify further aid, saying "they're not there yet".

"We think we can have a successful US auto industry," the president said.

"But it's got to be one that's realistically designed to weather this storm and to emerge - at the other end - much more lean, mean, and competitive than it currently is.

"
seymour hersh on obama's role in gaza...

Even before his inauguration, Hersh notes,"the Obama transition team also helped persuade Israel to end the bombing of Gaza and to withdraw its ground troops."

and that step in the right direction, naturally, didn't please the dark lord...

When former Vice President Dick Cheney learned that Obama had been putting pressure on the Israelis, he angrily disparaged him as "pro-Palestinian" and described him as someone who would "never make it in the major leagues."

hersh also thinks obama is going to play a major role in moving things forward in that benighted region...

"The differences between Obama’s Syria policies and those of the Administration of George W. Bush have attracted relatively little attention," Hersh writes, recalling Bush's long list of preconditions for any improvement in US-Syrian relations and mockery of Syrian President Bashar Assad for believing that he holds the key to peace in the region.

According to Hersh's sources, Syria is eager for peace with Israel and is backed in this by "Arab leaders who are invested in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process." In addition, the failure of Israel's campaign in Gaza to dislodge the Hamas government has given Assad room to negotiate without seeming to be appeasing Israel.

Assad himself emailed Hersh last winter to say, "We still believe that we need to conclude a serious dialogue to lead us to peace" and to note that he believes a personal meeting with President Obama would be essential. Obama, for his part, has expressed a willingness to meet with Assad without preconditions.

some cause for cautious optimism...? let's fervently hope so...

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