Chrysler bailout cost 1.3b

i was there with my father the other day, he won't drive anything else. i havn't had one since the original minivan. chrysler has to have the worst fleet mileage on the planet.

 

I find it odd that CNN is only now reporting on this when the actual transaction happend on June 3. Since I'm most up with health topics, I'm always amused when a news report references some minor survey from over a year ago that can be open to interpretation over what's a carcinogen. As for tax payer money with the stimulus...there are examples of how some distributions are going to fall through the crack. However, there are other instances of the stimulus gaining interest. We're in a bad recession, so finding overall positive returns are going to take some time. The main numbers I have seen that's made this "better then what it could have been" is overall GDP. There are many components to a strong economy....and it doesn't revolve around one specific policy in our legislature.

 

Washington politicians ought to go to the penentary for squandering the publics money. Even at the time, most observers said Chrysler was not a worthy candidate for a bail-out. How many millions went into the pockets of greedy officials?

It was not a bad investment ... it was criminal!!

 

My problem with Chrysler is they must have the worst fleet fuel economy of any automaker of size....their most fuel-efficient car is the Caliber (32 mpg?)

They bet the farm on guzzlers and lost...if they deserve to be saved they need some kind of 40 mpg car with a hope of having volume.

 

Anyone upset about this ought long since to have been in their Congressanimals' faces about dozens of other far bigger ripoffs: ethanol blending tax credits (a $6 billion annual reward to oil companies for obeying the law), $0.50 per gallon import duty on fuel ethanol, loopholes that let millionaires pay a lower net tax rate than poor schmucks making $30K, farm production credits and price supports (welfare programs for landowners), the lack of a needs test for Social Security benefits, ... and on and on. Chrysler should have been allowed to fail, but at least we got several thousand jobs for our billion.

 

It probably says something about the current state of affairs that my thought is "Only a billion? Not too bad.."

AFAICT the initial 'investment' was $4 billion.

 

Some people did.
My Congress Critter got 'flipped' in the last election. So did some others. He was a 20-year Dem that I voted for in every election, since I'm one of 'those' people who vote for the person, and not the party.
So.....he's now a former Congressman.

The wheel grinds slowly.....

Fox isn't the only one who aired the Chrysler story. I caught a couple of paragraphs about it on NPR too.

Personally? I would have let them go under.....but I didn't get a say in the matter at the time. C'est la vie!

 

Actually, I'd say that was money well spent, wish it had been a win for the taxpayers, or at least a break even, but saving an important company that keeps 100's of thousands, if not millions of Americans employed, is a win for the country, and a $1.3 Billion loss is less then a week in Iraq or Afghanistan, and that is a major loss.

 

I like Chrysler and hope they survive. They have major operations in my state and we can't afford to have plants closing.

as for the fleet mpg, someone is always going to have the best, and someone is always going to have the worst. Having some choice in vehicle purchase is not a bad thing. I have faith that the market will go along just fine. I drive a Prius and a Jeep, and am proud of both.

 

losing 1.3b is better than losing 12.5b.


and if it keeps thousands of jobs it's worth it

 

$1.3 Billion / 5000 = $260,000

I hope they were well paid jobs. :usa2:

 

you'll like this

video is good

Chrysler UAW workers caught getting drunk, high – again [Video]

 

To be fair, all those Chrysler employees holding the "saved" jobs should be paying an additional tax to repay the rest of us. I'm sorry, but if you build a crappy product you deserve to go out of business, lose your job, and starve.

IMO, the Feds should have scooped up GM, Chrysler, the banks, the brokerage houses, and the insurance company in Bankruptcy Court for pennies on the dollar. It would have cost less & we'd have something to show for it.

People could have stayed in their houses. Chrysler could have been forced to build their Supercar. But covering private losses with public money is a much better deal for the Millionaire Class.

 

I understand the need to save American jobs and am not unsympathetic, but it still smacks of subsidizing mediocrity. What reason do these companies have to make better cars and engage in better practices if the government saves them every time? It's like constantly bailing out your teenager instead of letting them fall on their nice person and learning. American car companies need to innovate. Japan has been doing it for some time. Everywhere I go, I see toyotas. I hardly ever see chryslers, afaik. They need to make something that makes America sit up and notice. Chevy did it. It's doable.

 

i wasn't a big fan of the bail outs either, but at this point, it's done. chrysler makes some good products. the minivan, the viper, some of the jeeps like the wrangler, liberty, and grand cherokee, the challenger, the charger....these are all good vehicles. they have their share of mediocrity, but a lot of good stuff too.

 

Yet most people are ignoring the 100's of thousands of supplier, dealer, service and transportation jobs saved.

 

That's what bugs me the most. They continue to sell vehicles that are bad for us. The world doesn't need another Hemi!

 

I used to be a "nothing but MOPAR" guy until the quality started falling off and I bought my first GM then a Ford. When the new style Dodge truck came out I came back to MOPAR in the hope that quality got better. It did but not by much, since then I haven't bought an "American" car meaning the big three since 1995. After this entire bailout crap sandwich that was shoved at us I have no intention of ever starting again even a used one.

The unions are killing this country from the inside out just like in Europe 1.3B is cheap compared to what it would cost us if it stayed owned by the Gov. just look at the post office it loses 8B a year.