Steven Rattner, who was appointed by President Obama to lead the government’s automotive task force, has said that Ford would have ceased operations too, if it hadn’t have been for federal and provincial aid provided to Chrysler and General Motors. Speaking at the Center for American Progress in Washington D.C., yesterday, Rattner said that “Ford would have closed because it wouldn’t have been able to get parts, because the parts industry in this country was in arguably worse shape than the assemblers.
Ford CEO Alan Mulally, recently said that he shared Rattner’s view and that during the hearings before Congress in 2008-9, argued for government financial support for Chrysler and GM, because in the end, it also helped save Ford from liquidation.
The subject of the auto bailout has become a hot political topic in recent weeks, as Barack Obama and Mitt Romney (who was opposed to the funding) both seek to bolster their public support in the run up to this November’s presidential election, particularly in swing states like Colorado, Iowa, Ohio and Virginia. Rattner, who currently serves as chairman for Willett Advisors LLC said that President George W. Bush “did the right thing” by instigating the bailout program, which provided $17.5 billion to both Chrysler and GM in 2008. He also said that only government was capable of providing the funds, since no private entity was willing to inject capital into ailing Domestic automakers in 2008-9.
Ford’s Mulally said he agreed with the assessments from economic advisors, both those from the Bush and Obama Administrations, since if Chrysler and GM had ended up shutting their doors for good it would have turned the Great Recession into a true depression.
