CATO Instutute: The TRUTH about the Auto Bailouts That Wasn’t Mentioned in Charlotte

The administration didn’t save the auto industry. The stronger case is that it damaged the auto industry along with several important institutions vital to capitalism’s proper functioning. However, it should be granted that President Obama’s commandeering of GM’s and Chrysler’s bankruptcy process saved jobs at those companies and elsewhere in their supply chains (and provided an opportunity to dole out spoils for politically favored interests). How many jobs were saved is impossible to determine because it’s not clear what would have happened to GM’s and Chrysler’s assets had a normal, non-political bankruptcy process been allowed to unfold.

Yes, jobs were saved for the time being in Michigan, Ohio, and a few other industrial states in the Midwest. That is what can be seen. And politicians are hardwired to tout the benefits—and only the benefits—of their policies.

But an informed citizenry should insist on a proper accounting of the costs of those policies, as well—not just the losses put on the taxpayers’ tab (right now taxpayers’ “investment” in GM is $27 billion, but the public’s 500 million shares of GM stock is worth only $10 billion), but the unseen costs.

Sure some jobs were preserved in some locations, but what about the less visible consequences and ripple effects? What isn’t so easily seen, but is every bit as important to assessing the auto interventions is the effects on the other auto companies and their workers (i.e., the majority of the U.S. auto industry). Will the public remember or know enough to attribute layoffs of American workers at Ford or Toyota or Kia during the next downturn in auto demand to the fact that a necessary reckoning on the supply side was precluded by the interventions of 2009?

The auto industry is plagued with overcapacity, which is a problem that demands a thinning of the herd. GM and Chrysler, through their own relatively poor decisions with respect to labor relations, product offerings, and quality management were failing by the market’s judgment and were the rightful candidates to be thinned. But that process was forestalled. In 2013, auto workers in Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Indiana, and even Michigan and Ohio may lose their jobs because GM and Chrysler workers’ jobs were spared in 2009.

Full article:
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/details-of-the-auto-bailout-you-wont-hear-in-charlotte/

Clint Eastwood: Halftime in America

Obama Magic: Toledo Restaurant set to Close Just Days After Obama Visits

It figures. A week after Obama mentioned an Ohio restautant in one of his “success stories”, it goes out of business.
Cleveland.com reported:

An Ohio restaurant mentioned last week by President Barack Obama as an indirect beneficiary of the government’s Chrysler bailout will go out of business Sunday after a more than 70-year history.

Co-owner Richard Lawrence of New Chet’s Restaurant in Toledo says business has fallen victim to the economy and the workplace smoking ban approved by Ohio voters in 2006. He told The Blade newspaper of Toledo on Wednesday that auto industry cutbacks also hurt.

Lawrence says he used to deliver up to $300 in food per week to Chrysler Group LLC’s Jeep plant in Toledo, but now that’s down to about $100 worth.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/06/figures-a-week-after-ohio-restaurant-was-mentioned-by-obama-it-goes-out-of-business/

Chrysler Dealers to Challenge Closings and Obama Legitimacy

     James Anderer has appeared on several news broadcasts since the Chrysler bankruptcy proceedings and the list of dealerhsips that the Obama White House wanted closed. Appearing on Fox Business with Neil Cavuto on Friday, Anderer announced that a new lawsuit would be filed in the DC Federal Courts:

Dianna Cotter of the Portland Civil Rights Examiner wrote a posting today having to do with how Chrysler and GM dealers lost their franchises practically overnight through what they saw as an unlawful federal government intrusion into the automotive industry (where some creditors alleged to have been threatened by the White House over the deal).

With this as a backdrop, Ms. Cotter quotes “an anonymous source” as saying that attorneys Leo Donofrio and Stephen Pidgeon, of Wrotnowski v. Bysiewicz and Broe v. Reed, respectively, have teamed up with certain dealers in DC District Court:

Neil Cavuto welcomed former Chrysler dealer James Anderer to his show on Fox Business News Daily to talk about a case that has been filed by a group of dealers who lost their businesses in the Washington D.C. District Court. Lead Plaintiff Anderer mentioned a team of legal experts while describing the case to Cavuto, and an anonymous source has named Leo Donofrio and Steve Pidgeon as having been retained by a group of Chrysler dealers who lost their franchise in the Chrysler bankruptcy sale. They have been retained to bring two actions:

1. A motion to reconsider the Court’s approval of the dealer rejections.
2. A quo warranto in the D.C. District Court pertaining to Obama and his administration.

This case may initially slide under the MSM radar; however, it may be the single most serious case to be brought against The Obama Administration and the President himself to date.

http://www.therightsideoflife.com/2009/12/06/source-donofrio-pidgeon-and-quo-warranto-in-dc/

Rush Limbaugh 06-08-09 In Its Entirety

This is a great audio of a recent Rush Limbaugh show:

http://patdollard.com/2009/06/epic-90-minute-rush-limbaugh-monolouge-obama-is-destroying-the-us-economy/

Supreme Court denies Last Ditch Appeal of Chrysler Sale; Court has Affirmed Obama’s Power to Ignore Laws and the Constitution

     In a move that affirms the President’s power grab that ignores the Laws, ignores 230 years of precedence, and ignores the Constitution, the United States Supreme Court has dnied the appeal of secured creditors opposing the Chrysler sale.

Supreme Court clears way for Chrysler’s Fiat sale

The court issued a brief, unsigned opinion explaining its action. To obtain a delay, or stay, someone must show that at least four of the nine justices find that the issue raised is serious enough to warrant hearing a full appeal and that a majority of the court will conclude the lower court decision was wrong.

“The applicants have not carried that burden,” the court said.

For Full Story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_supreme_court_chrysler;_ylt=AochdYCtlPxnY2OVhMM0Jqis0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTJxNm1zM3U0BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwNjA5L3VzX3N1cHJlbWVfY291cnRfY2hyeXNsZXIEY3BvcwMxBHBvcwMyBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA3N1cHJlbWVjb3VydA
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A Visual Perspective of the Cars the CEO of US AUTO says we WILL Drive

     The CEO of the new United States Auto Industry, Barack Obama, issued new emission standards and fuel efficiency standards, moving the target date from 2020 to 2016. Here is a visual perspective of where we are and what Obama says we WILL BUY:

Ford Fusion– our average midsize sedan

Tata Nano

HOW SAFE DO YOU FEEL??!!

Chrysler Dealership Franchises aren’t being closed: They are being “given” (at no cost) to others; Obama using Chrysler bankruptcy as a means of Redistributing the Wealth

     The following letter/comment was emailed to me today, and it was taken from the Plains Radio website. It is  by no means the only story that I have heard or read in the past week revealing the same scenario:

Letter from a Dodge dealer letter to the editor

My name is George C. Joseph. I am the sole owner of Sunshine Dodge-Isuzu, a family owned and operated business in Melbourne, Florida. My family bought and paid for this automobile franchise 35 years ago in 1974. I am the second generation to manage this business.

We currently employ 50+ people and before the economic slowdown we employed over 70 local people. We are active in the community and the local chamber of commerce. We deal with several dozen local vendors on a day to day basis and many more during a month. All depend on our business for part of their livelihood. We are financially strong with great respect in the market place and community. We have strong local presence and stability.

I work every day the store is open, nine to ten hours a day. I know most of our customers and all our employees. Sunshine Dodge is my life.

On Thursday, May 14, 2009 I was notified that my Dodge franchise, that we purchased, will be taken away from my family on June 9, 2009 without compensation and given to another dealer at no cost to them. My new vehicle inventory consists of 125 vehicles with a financed balance of 3 million dollars. This inventory becomes impossible to sell with no factory incentives beyond June 9, 2009. Without the Dodge franchise we can no longer sell a new Dodge as “new,” nor will we be able to do any warranty service work. Additionally, my Dodge parts inventory, (approximately 0,000.) is virtually worthless without the ability to perform warranty service. There is no offer from Chrysler to buy back the vehicles or parts inventory.

Our facility was recently totally renovated at Chrysler’s insistence, incurring a multi-million dollar debt in the form of a mortgage at Sun Trust Bank.

HOW IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CAN THIS HAPPEN?

THIS IS A PRIVATE BUSINESS NOT A GOVERNMENT ENTITY

This is beyond imagination! My business is being stolen from me through NO FAULT OF OUR OWN. We did NOTHING wrong.

This atrocity will most likely force my family into bankruptcy. This will also cause our 50+ employees to be unemployed. How will they provide for their families? This is a total economic disaster.

HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN IN A FREE MARKET ECONOMY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?

I beseech your help, and look forward to your reply. Thank you.
 
George C. Joseph
President & Owner
Sunshine Dodge-Isuzu

**************************************************

Thoughts???

The “Obama Man” Can!!!!

Memo to Prez: Let AutoMakers Regroup and Restructure before issuing MORE Mandate changes

     Even as Chrysler and GM struggle to remain viable, the Obama administration released a series of new fuel mileage and emission mandates for the automobile industry, with a 2016 deadline.

     For the story: 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090518/pl_politico/22650