Obama Opts Against ‘Car Czar’; Geithner, Summers to Head Team

[Joanne98]

Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama opted against naming a “car czar,” instead asking Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers to head a task force on revamping the U.S. auto industry, according to people familiar with the decision.

Ron Bloom, a United Steelworkers union adviser and former Lazard Ltd. vice president, will join administration members on the team, according to the two people, who declined to be named because the announcement hasn’t been made publicly.

The task force puts an end to reports Obama would recruit a well-known figure from outside to serve as the so-called car czar. The president was under pressure to say who would handle the issue before tomorrow, when General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC must give progress reports on plans to restructure as a condition of $17.4 billion in U.S. Treasury loans.

“It’s going to be something that’s going to require sacrifice not just from the auto workers, but also from creditors, from shareholders and the executives who run the company,” senior White House adviser David Axelrod said yesterday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a02O_qKJjyLk&refer=news

The bondholders need to take a haircut.