So it just came out this morning that Steven Rattner is stepping down as Advisor to the US Treasury (aka Car Czar) (link here: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/economy/Rattner-leaving-auto-task-force_07_14-50679542.html). He took this job on February 23rd of this year after coming from Quadrangle Group (where he was one of 4 founders. The group apparently has about $2.5B invested). So, more or less, he left a position in the private financial industry where I'm sure he was making a healthy salary (and don't forget about his investments in Cerberus Capital Management) for a government posting which I'm sure resulted in a significant step down salarywise.
Apparently no one saw a problem with hiring a guy from the private financial sector to drag GM and Chrysler out of bankruptcy. Generalization warning: the private financial sector (while may not being the cause of) made this economic downturn much worse than it should have been so why would we (the taxpayers) hire someone in the private financial sector for this job? I have no idea. But that is neither here nor there (that decision was made without consulting me back in February).
The issue at hand is why is Rattner stepping down days after bringing GM out of bankruptcy? There could be many reasons (and I'm speculating here). Maybe he just wanted to gain some notoriety by being 'the car czar' for a few months and leverage that in the private sector afterwards. Maybe he realized there is NO money in working for the federal government, especially with Obama's policies (except if you are a senator apparently). Maybe he rushed GM through the bankruptcy process and doesn't want to stick around to be responsible for GM going down in flames (again, which it most likely will). According to Rattner, he is leaving in order to return to private life and his family in New York City. This probably means that he will be returning to Quadrangle Group in the near future but that is just my own speculation. I'm guessing the answer to this question will come out in the near future and I will be watching the news closely for it.
So this going-on raises a few bones that I have to pick. The first being, if the Obama administration wants (more like they NEED) executive level talent like Rattner, they need to pay accordingly. You can NOT cap pay at $150,000 per year. Someone who is making 3 or 4 times that amount will not leave their cushy private sector job for a federal posting with heavy public scrutiny for less pay (someone who does make that decision should be required to undergo extensive psychological testing). If you want the best people in the country working for you, pay accordingly.
Another issue is that of private industry goons using the government as a tool of publicity. I have a feeling that not many people, apart from financial insiders, knew who Rattner was before he started working for the Treasury (I know I didn't). After working for the government for 5 months, he now enjoys top of the mind awareness and is a household name (even the best PR firms can't bring that kind of notoriety). So this guy is more or less going to make more money in the coming months because he working for the government (going along with the Obama theme, shouldn't he be taxed on the difference between his pay before working for the Treasury and after citing that his brief foray into government work is responsible for this increase in pay? Doesn't Democrat logic suck when turned on those who constantly spew it?)
That's all I've got for this morning, I may have an afternoon rant in me later on. Enjoy some satire below for the time being:
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