DAMN IT!! Chrysler Survives

I wish the US car companies would just go out of business. They are has beens and are not capable of change. The only exception is Ford and the jury is still out on them.

I can't see myself ever buying a GM or Chrysler product again.

 

From the guy who bought a brand new 1999 Chrysler Neon and the extended "Gold" warranty.

I lost 3k$ in repairs, and 8k$ in the exchange getting rid of it after a little less than 3 years.

I had to downgrade to a used 98 Toyota Tercel w/o AC.

Three years later and zero repairs on the Tercel, I actually sold it for HIGHER than my balance of payments.

 

Good and bad here I think. At least a lot(?) of jobs will be retained.

Wildkow

 

Really! What is the point of them reorganizing--so they can make MORE cars that suck and that no one wants?

 

horrible.

and wrong,, big time job loss,,, same reason as before. it will only get worse as they make small unprofitable cars people dont want to buy.

obama is a joke.... he forces out the bond holders and other private equity holders of chryslers debt.

forces in the UAW, and continues to give US taxpayer money to support this dying business.

it is my hope that people boycott chrysler forever.

how much money has obama thrown down the toilet and continues to do so??

watch what he does with gm.... soon to be obama motors.

 

D man you are so funny
Obama did nothing other than give them a month more than they would have had.
Chrysler and GM would be in liquidation if Bush had not given them a bail out.
I applaud this as Obama actually demanded a meaningful restructuring. Will it work? Who knows. But it has a better chance of working than the one Chrysler offered a month ago.
No bond holders were forced anywhere. They were given a choice, come to an agreement with Chrysler that will allow them to restructure, or take your chances in bankruptcy.
The UAW didn't want bankruptcy. He probably has lost some of their support (unless it turns out well in the long run).
As for small unprofitable cars, after restructuring the idea is that they will be able to make small profitable cars
And, there is nothing (other than the market) that says they can't continue to build big profitable cars/trucks/SUVs.

 

like being funny.... the bond holders of chrysler will be the shortest haircut which seems almost funny if it were not going to be disastrous in the long run... like the fanny/freddie secure debt holders the govt screwed.

either way.... i was against bush giving money to any failing business and obama is just stepping it up a bunch of notches.

i am against any more of US taxpayer money being thrown away. simple.

i am against anything but the bankruptcy courts handling it. more simple.

 

The whole point of the free market is that companies that make bad products, or products too few people want to buy, will go out of business and be replaced by more innovative companies. When the government bails out a failing company (ostensibly to save jobs) all it does is prevent the market from doing what it does best (sort out good from bad companies). It "saves" jobs in the sort run but those companies, which are already uncompetitive, will become even less competitive and the failing companies are just a drain on both the government budget and the overall national economy.

It would be much better to let the companies go bankrupt and give the workers unemployment benefits to tide them over until new and more innovative companies pick up the market. Most job creation is done by small, innovative companies, and we would be supporting those if we stopped subsidizing the large but inefficient "dinosaur" companies.

 

I see this a test run for GM. We will see if Chrysler actually comes out of this in 30 to 60 days as planned. All of Chrysler's plants shut down on May 4th and will remain closed until they come out of bankruptcy. It will be interesting to see what the company looks like and who the owners will be if it comes out of bankruptcy.

 

As a Management Scientist I have to agree. However, the only reason this will help American workers is that shipping cars, while much cheaper than 20 years ago (adjusted for inflation) is still higher than the cost savings of taking production offshore. That's why companies like Honda and Toyota have plants here. Our labor may be high (relative to parts of the world) but quality is better than some places and both transportation and infrastructure already exist to support manufacturing. If auto companies could figure out how to build cars in 3rd world countries and still get the quality, I believe they would go there to maximize profit (to the detriment of American jobs).

The problem with small, innovative companies springing up in auto production is the cost of capitalizing such an endevor, plus the huge pile of DOT, EPA and NHTSA regulations that have to be tested and met. There hasn't been a start-up auto company make it here in many a year. Tata Motors will probably make it because the parent company has deep pockets and India has few, if any regulations. But that car would never be legal to sell here.

 

That is a problem. Zap addressed it by taking one wheel off the car and calling it a motorcycle. (No safety standards for motorcycles.) But Tesla is now putting its Roadster on the roads and is taking pre-orders for its sporty sedan. (Our very own Dr. Evan is o the list to get one.) And Aptera looks serious (though they also have side-stepped many of the regulations by leaving one wheel off.)

On the other hand, those regulations have saved a lot of lives.

 

Hi All,

I think the UAW (which will have controlling interest) will probably sell Jeep off to a Saudi Consortium. They will have the money to buy Jeep, and need the Jeeps for the desert.

 

I love the old Chrysler and GM cars...always will. But in today's market I would be less concerned about saving the American car industry which is completely misrepresented as 'American-made' and have our government concentrate on 'American Healthcare'.
If GM and Chrysler workers had Universal Healthcare would we be hearing about their plight? I don't think so and their healthcare would be honored...like all of our healthcare should be honored.
President Obama could set aside money to honor these car companies....from 1900 - 1980's. After the 80's the japanese and europeans won over the American car-buying public.

 

Its not like they are making buggy whips.
GM and Chrysler make ok products that can make profits.
The market for autos went sour.
$4 gas killed sales last year ,now that gas is cheap , few buyers can get credit to buy new cars.
These market anomalies (both Bushs fault) are what are causing the auto companies demise ,not the auto companies lack of innovation.
True, they would have fared better if they were selling hybrids and electric vehicles.
But they still wouldnt be selling them in todays market atmosphere.Gas is cheap and buyers poor.
This market glitch needs to be bridged by government assistance because millions of workers lives fall in the balance.
Restructure and innovate and fix this Bush depression and all will be well.
Daniel Im surprised that your free market philosophy sounds an awful lot like a rightwinger's.

 

My first car was American made. It was a total piece of crap that constantly broke down and left me stranded, and sat in the shop for weeks while they waited for repair parts to arrive.

So my next car was a Honda, and in the 15 years I owned it it never failed to start and it never broke down and it never left me stranded. I got rid of it because I wanted a car with air bags.

So I bought my Prius in January of 2004, and it has never failed to start or broken down or left me stranded except for the time I got a flat tire, which has nothing to do with the car.

Something very unexpected would have to happen for me to buy another car from one of the Big Three. I'll buy a Tesla Sedan, however, if it becomes available before I get my electric Porsche.

I am a socialist: I believe that workers should own and control their own means of production within a free market where (worker-owned) companies would still have to compete for survival in a free and open market. I do not believe in a completely unregulated market. Government regulation is needed to prevent criminal abuse of the market (restraint of trade, insider trading, market manipulation, abuse of derivative instruments, false bookkeeping, and many other dishonest and abusive practices). But the kind of market that Adam Smith wrote about (he never knew about multi-national corporations, but he did advocate government regulation, though neo-cons pretend he did not) is an efficient way to manage resources. Bailing out failed mega-corporations prevents the market from doing one of its most important functions, which is weeding out inefficient businesses.

I believe in the market. But not a completely unrestrained market. Or the exploitation of workers by the owners of capital.

 

You mean Bush's toilet?

LOL.

 

what about the rights of the owners of the capital?

here is a problem for you. the best "worker" in the auto industry is a robot - one time cost, no sick days, no retirement, no health care insurance, no striking, etc. that will hold true for more and more industries as time moves forward.

the jobs obama is "saving" are for politcal reasons. i am hoping the UAW has better luck with running the company than it has had in running their own union :welcome: I am not optimistic by the way. the same forces that caused the UAW not only to self destruct but to destroy its host,,, will probably come to play as they destroy what is left of chrysler.

bottom line: the world has excess capacity to make cars (as is true for most goods), this capacity will be shrinking by about 20-33% over the next few years. chrysler (and GM) will be sharing in that correction of production capacity and if my beliefs are correct sharing at a greater % of loss of capacity than its rivals who have beaten them at their own game for the past several decades. GM and Chrysler were declining for decades, this recession just hastened their demise.

obama just wants to satisfy his political base and keep them in the fold - like they were going to jump ship... likes attract - including socialists which is what chrysler and gm will be... socialized car companies,, like the old soviet union,, what was the name of the car the soviets made???? well, that is where chrysler is heading, and gm. this will be fun to watch except for obama throwing away my kids money while he keeps them alive.

Jeeze, who would buy a chrysler tomorrow if it is run by the same people who have been making their lousy products for the past 20 years?

Hey, is obama occupying chrysler?

another thought,,, MB PAID to get out of owning chrysler,,, does that give anyone here second thoughts about obama paying to run it with our money?