Obama taskforce faces Congress over car industry rescue

Christine Seib in New York

Members of President Obama's auto task force are expected to face tough questions about America's ailing car industry when they appear at a congressional committee hearing today.

It is the first time White House representatives will face public scrutiny over the decision to use billions of dollars in taxpayers' cash to bail out General Motors (GM) and Chrysler.

Ron Bloom, the former investment banker who led the task force's labour negotiations, and Edward Montgomery, President Obama's director of recovery for auto communities and workers, will testify to the Senate Banking Committee in Washington this afternoon.

The hearing will review the use of funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Programme (Tarp) to put the two car companies through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process.

The Government will provide up to $50 billion (£30.5 billion) to GM alone to get the carmaker back in operation, in return for a 60 per cent stake in the restructured company.

Christopher Dodd, the Democrat Senator who chairs the committee, is expected to press Mr Bloom and Mr Montgomery on how soon taxpayers can expect a return on their investments.

Republicans have already criticised the White House's decision to override US bankruptcy laws to save the carmakers and called on Chrysler to give its dealers more time to close down their businesses.

Chrysler, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 30, is expected to emerge as a restructured company within days, after the Supreme Court last night lifted a stay on the sale of the company's assets to a group led by Fiat, the Italian car group.

GM filed for Chapter 11 on June 1 and is expected to emerge from bankruptcy by August.

Pasar otomatif dunia akan “serempak ambruk”

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Jakarta - Pasar otomatif dunia akan “serempak ambruk” pada 2009 karena didera krisis likuiditas dan tekanan krisis ekonomi secara umum, demikian riset dari sebuah lembaga pemberi referensi paling berpengaruh di dunia, JD Power and Associates seperti dikutip Reuters, Jumat.

Lembaga yang berpusat di Detroit, AS ini memperkirakan, penjualan kendaraan ringan akan jatuh hingga 13,2 juta unit pada 2009 setelah selama tahun ini hanya bisa menjual 13,6 juta unit.

JD Power menilai pemulihan pasar yang sesungguhnya akan memakan waktu lebih dari 18 bulan atau 1,5 tahun.

“Setelah kekuatan penjualan industri otomotif global menurun di sepanjang 2008, maka pada 2009 nanti industri ini akan mengalami kejatuhan secara serempak,” kata Jeff Schuster, direktur eksekutif bidang penakaran industri otomotif dari JD Power.

Sepanjang dampak krisis keuangan terhadap pasar negara maju lebih keras ketimbang terhadap pasar ekonomi berkembang, maka tak ada satu negara atau kawasan pun yang benar-benar kebal dari malapetaka (ekonomi) ini, tambah Schuster.