The indefatigable Noam Scheiber has a really detailed profile of Ron Bloom, the former investment banker who became the administration's top man on manufacturing policy (you could also use, colloquially, a certain Russian imperial title) after playing a major role in the rescues of General Motors and Chrysler. In particular, Noam's piece offers some fascinating insight on Bloom's role negotiating Chrysler's merger with Fiat and its mercurial leader, Sergio Marchionne:These issues prompted occasional outbursts from Marchionne; Bloom was nearly unflappable. His particular genius is to let an adversary win on an issue, then gradually, subtly reclaim it for his side. So, for example, Fiat might insist that a government loan be forgiven. Bloom would concede it, then offset the loss using the terms of a second loan later on. “Ron has what I refer to as ass power,” says [Bankruptcy Lawyer Matt Feldman]. “He’ll continue to talk about things, explore them, work on them, not letting the other side see what’s really important to him. Even if it’s important, he’ll bargain it away early and work on getting it back.” In the end, Fiat mostly ate the workers’-comp liabilities; Chrysler and Fiat split the difference on the excess inventory; and Bloom basically held the line on the $8 billion in federal money he’d been authorized to commit.But what isn't in this story or any other, is what exactly Bloom is doing now as chief counselor on manufacturing policy. Noam does a good job in laying out the challenges -- mainly, that U.S. firms don't compete well with foreign firms that have their home country's industrial and trade policies on their sides, and the the U.S. is particularly lagging behind in future-oriented green energy sectors -- but we don't know what Ron is doing about that. After nearly four months in his office, both Treasury and the White House are keeping mum about Bloom's current activities, raising the worry that he was tapped for the job as a labor-day sop to the unions without being given a clear mandate. While Noam remains hopeful that the ever-scrappy Bloom can muscle his way into policy relevance, I'd be more optimistic if I thought the Obama administration were putting someone as talented as Bloom in an actual position of power. Here's my take on Bloom from earlier in the year.
-- Tim Fernholz
