This week, former auto czar Steven Rattner writes in Fortune Magazine about the Obama Administration’s decision to rescue General Motors and Chrysler. The toughest decision faced by the president’s advisors, he says, was whether to let Chrysler go under.

Too many jobs, and auto suppliers were at stake to let that happen. “Yet Chrysler’s cupboard was bare. We did not believe we could under write its viability without a strong corporate partner, so we turned our attention to a single possibility, an overture from Fiat.”

The story of how an Italian auto company came to the rescue of an American icon, with the blessing of an American president, is an example how foreign investment has become an integral part of the economy. Read more on the Chrysler-Fiat story in the book.