President Obama’s car czar, Ron Bloom, has recently been given the additional responsibility of helping figure out ways to revive American manufacturing. Before becoming the car czar Mr. Bloom was a special assistant to the president of the United Steelworkers where his responsibilities included the union’s collective bargaining program. Prior to that he worked as an investment banker and was involved with transactions on behalf of the Steelworkers, United Auto Workers, and the Teamsters among other unions.
Sounds like the least qualified person to revive American manufacturing jobs, especially auto industry jobs where collective bargaining agreements resulted in such high compensation and legacy costs brought the employers to bankruptcy and are now owned largely by the government and the unions.
Wonder what recommendations he will bring to the table? Likely he will want more takeovers of struggling American enterprises hamstrung by regulations and collective bargaining agreements. How will U.S. companies not owned by the government compete with publicly owned enterprises that do not have to worry about profits or return on investment? Is this the way we engage in global competition? Taxpayers as investors with Bloom as investment manager. That is surely the road to the poor house for all of us.