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Who Decided Which Chrysler Dealerships To Close?

Michael Redbourn — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 20:09:41 +0000

Auto Trends Magazine » Chrysler to Shower Jeep With Some …

www.autotrends.org11/16/11

The Chrysler Group will be investing $1.7 billion in it hottest brand, which is Jeep. Today, CEO Sergio Marchionne announced that it will pour $500 million into its Toledo North Assembly Plant, create a second shift that will …

Chrysler, GM Closures Don't Faze Car Dealer-Focused VAR

www.crn.com5/15/09

The closures of more than 1000 Chrysler and GM dealerships will not have a devastating impact on one of the largest solution providers servicing that market, according to a spokesman for Reynolds & Reynolds, a Dayton, …

788 of the 789 dealerships that were shut down by the Federal Government had donated money exclusively to republican political causes!

After Chrysler announced that it would be filing for bankruptcy the Government said that it was prepared to step in, in order to save jobs, and Obama famously announced that Chrysler was "Too big to fail!".

Obama then announced a new car-czar named Steve Rattner to head up what came to be called the "Automotive Task Force" which would save both Chrysler and G.M.

A list of dealerships that were to be closed was published, and it was initially thought that the auto companies had put together the lists but The Washington Examiner, Newsmax, Fox News and a host of other news agencies soon published articles showing that the list of dealerships was actually put together by the "Automotive Task Force" which was headed by Obama’s new czar, Mr. Steve Rattner.

Which Dealerships Were To Be Closed And Why?

On May 27, 2009, The Washington Examiner and Newsmax broke the story that of the 789 dealerships slated to be closed by the federal government, that 788 of them had donated money, exclusively to Republican political causes.

The only "Democratic" dealership on the closure list was said to have donated $7,700 to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and a little over $2,000 to John Edwards. This same dealership, reportedly, also gave $200.00 to Obama’s campaign.

Who Is Maureen White?

Well Steve Rattner is married to a Maureen White and she was the national finance chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee and as such she had access to every campaigns’ donation records!

And Who Is McClarty?

If the link no longer works, although it should do, what was written there was:

RLJ-McLarty-Landers Automotive Group is a partnership between the RLJ Companies and McLarty-Landers Automotive.

The partnership combines the 10 existing dealerships owned by Mack McLarty, former Bill Clinton chief of staff, and his partner Steve Landers with a capital commitment from the RLJ Companies which will be used to acquire additional dealerships.

The partnership’s goal is to add approximately 20 dealerships to its current portfolio and increase its current revenue from approximately $400 million to more than $1 billion over the next five years.

None of the above dealerships got shut down, whereas all of the competing Chrysler/Dodge and Jeep dealerships in the area got closed!

Hopefully that tells you something and bells are ringing, loudly!

Who Owns Chrysler?

That’s right the UAW now owns 55%, Fiat 35% and the government and secured lenders own the remaining 10%.

Just Think!

If the all the above is accurate and it would honestly seem to be, then the Obama administration cost tens of thousands of people their jobs by closing down businesses just because it didn’t like they’re politics.

What Happened to Steve Rattner?

Rattner resigned on July 13, 2009 and was quickly replaced by former steel workers union boss Ron Bloom and according to CBS News, Rattner left "to return to private life and spend time with his family”.

Do a search for “Steve Rattner Investigations” and you most likely won’t be surprised at what you find!

The Czars

Obama has 32 personally appointed "czars" who answer to no one but him, all of whom are acting without any Constitutional authority whatsoever, but hey, we’re sure they all have "unique skills”, as Tim Geithner loves to say.

Is It All True?

I can’t guarantee that everything here is accurate because many of the actions took place behind closed doors, but if you know why something should be changed then just give me the proof and I’ll change it, and any similar information about GM closures would be great too!

Understand The Cash For Clunkers Program That Starts Tomorrow

Michael Redbourn — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:26:29 +0000

Cash For Clunkers

The aim of the cash for clunkers program which is due to start tomorrow, July 24th is to tempt would be buyers into trading in their old gas guzzlers for a new greener model, which will hopefully help the environment, and also will give some momentum to the stalled economy.

The vehicle that’s going to be traded in has to meet certain requirements, one of which is that it’s not more than that twenty five years old, and the new vehicle mustn’t cost more than $45,000.

The program, which is officially known as the Car Allowance Rebate System, will continue until $1 billion in rebate credits are reported, or Nov. 1st whichever comes first.

The program might triple or even quadruple the trade-in value of a real clunker, meaning one that would normally only fetch $1,000 to $1,500 from a dealer, but if the book value of the car or truck is more than the $3,500 or $4,500 then the program probably won’t help you.

Dealers are really excited about the program, and it’s easy to understand why when you consider that the U.S. auto sales annual rate was 9.69 million cars and light trucks in June, down from 9.9 million in May and 13.7 million in June 2008.

Chrysler Group LLC just announced that it will be offering new-car buyer’s incentives of as much as $4,500 in cash, and those who qualify for the maximum credit under the clunkers initiative will receive $9,000.

The incentive runs from tomorrow through Aug. 31 and covers most 2009 Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep models.

Some Tips If You’re Thinking Of Trading

1) Don’t drive your clunker to the dealer’s lot.

2) Negotiate on the price of the new vehicle first, and only when that’s finished, mention that you have a clunker to trade in.

3) If the salesperson tells you that cash-for-clunkers rebates are only available if you pay the sticker price, then don’t believe them. The opposite is true, and you’ll get less than the full value of the government credit if you pay the sticker price.

4) Carefully review the sales contract to make sure you haven’t bought services that you didn’t want, and make sure that the final numbers, including the monthly payment, match the negotiated price.

Jack Welch Has Been Doing A Lot Of Talking Lately

Michael Redbourn — Wed, 20 May 2009 19:02:45 +0000

The “Jack Welch” Portfolio Algorithm « CSS Analytics

cssanalytics.wordpress.com10/14/11

Jack Welch is one of the most recognizable names in business as the former CEO of General Electric. His skills and leadership in running one of the largest companies in the world have been the source of numerous books …

Jack Welch Led Gossip Sessions « Leadership Freak

leadershipfreak.wordpress.com11/18/11

Jack Welch Led Gossip Sessions. With typical candor and color, Jack Welch said, “We always had one hell-of-ah gossip session after every meeting.” (ELP, 2011, NYC). At least two things happened at meetings Jack Welch …

Jack Welch, the former chief executive officer of General Electric Co., and author of “Straight from the Gut”, has been very busy on the talk shows and speaking circuit lately, and here’s what he’s been saying.

“The government has taken advantage of the economic crisis to get a tighter grip on the US economy, and this does not bode well for business”.

“There are so many things that bother me right now. Over the last couple of weeks, things have really gone south in the government relationships”.

“These guys, when they came in, said a crisis like this is impossible to waste. The government seems to think there’s a crisis and now we can get in here and do all the things that we dreamed about when we were at Harvard, when we were somewhere else”.

“The government now controls about 37% of the US economy, including health care, and this makes businesses uneasy, despite promises that the state’s role will shrink when the economy gets better. Now, these guys say they want to get out. Do you believe that? Do they want to get out?”.

“The Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) funds, with the conditions attached to them, are also something to be avoided by businesses. And the news that six insurers secured a green light from the Treasury Department to receive funds under the TARP is not good news”. Referring to Obama, Welch said, “I don’t particularly like where he’s taking us. To get the money he needs, he has to have a fake budget. He’s fooling people about how we’re going to have the top line support the programs in the middle without enormous taxes”. Asked about the restructuring of Chrysler, he replied, “I didn’t like the terms. The creditors’ rights were trashed and the unions got 55% of the company”. He did have a couple of good things to say though, “The president’s plan to implement the nation’s first national standard for greenhouse-gas emissions was sound. This emissions plan is not one that gives me great trouble’. And on the direction of the economy, “I want new housing starts to go down, down, down. It’s the only way to get housing prices stabilized, and we need to stabilize housing prices. While the market didn’t like it, housing starts going down again I like it”.

April Retail Sales Fell As Unemployment Rose

Michael Redbourn — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:10:07 +0000

A just released report by the Commerce Department shows that retail sales unexpectedly dropped by 0.4% in April, following a revised drop of 1.3% in March and analysts contributed the drop to the biggest loss of household wealth on record, falling home values and rising unemployment.

Most economists had predicted that retail sales would rise by 0.2% after a 1% decrease a month earlier.

Bill Cheney, who is the chief economist at John Hancock Financial Services Inc. said in an interview that, “The second quarter is going to be tough. Consumers are losing their jobs, concerned about losing their jobs and losing wealth”.

Mike Niemira who is the chief economist at ICSC was a little bit less downbeat and said, “We’re still working our way through the slowdown. I think it will get better as the year progresses. The month of May will still be tough and I suspect by the summer that things will be a little broader in terms of the improvement”.

The decline in sales was led by falling demand at furniture, clothing, grocery and electronics’ stores, and even as fuel prices rose, receipts at service stations fell, indicating perhaps that Americans were driving less.

Clothing sales fell by 0.5% and sales at general-merchandise stores fell by 0.1%.

Auto sales unexpectedly gained by 0.2% after dropping by 2% in March, with automobiles selling at a 9.3 million annual pace in April, compared with a 9.9 million rate in March.

Chrysler, whose U.S. whose sales were down by 48% from the same month last year, started offering rebates of up to $6,000 on May 6 and the offers will continue until the end of the month.

The Labor Department reported last week that payrolls fell by 539,000 workers last month making it the smallest drop since October, but it took the unemployment rate to 8.9%, which is the highest level since 1983 and economists expect it to average 9.6% in 2010.

Bailout recipients pay lobbyists almost $10 million.

Michael Redbourn — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:06:03 +0000

The top 10 recipients of the government’s $700 billion financial bailout plan (TALF) paid lobbyists around $9.5 million during the first three months of this year.

GM (General Motors Corp.) which just announced that it will most likely default on a $1 billion bond payment that’s due June 1, spent $2.8 million on lobbying in the first quarter of 2009.

GM has already received $13.4 billion in government loans and is pushing for an additional $5 billion.

Other bailout recipients that spent more than $1million in an attempt to influence future government decisions were;

A.I.G – which has already received $70 billion
Citigroup Inc. – 45 billion
JPMorgan Chase & Co. – $25 billion
Bank of America Corp., received $5 billion and spent $660,000 on lobbying which is 20% down from the last quarter of 2008.
Wells Fargo & Company, $25 billion in bailout money, and $700,000 on lobbying.
Goldman Sachs, received $10 billion and spent $670,000
Morgan Stanley got $10 billion and spent $540,000
U.S. Bancorp got $6.6 billion and paid out $170,000
PNC Financial Services Group, received $7.8 billion and spent $135,000 which is almost double its last quarter’s lobbying costs.

The companies in question deny using bailout money for lobbying, but seven of them spent more attempting to influence the government than they did in the last quarter of 2008, and Craig Holman of the watchdog group Public Citizen said “It’s completely unjustifiable. They say they’re not using public money for these purposes, but in effect these companies are steering taxpayer funds to lobbying, and campaign contributions”, and added, “What AIG’s reporting is, in fact, influence peddling”.


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GM Hopes To Make A Similar Deal To The Chrysler – UAW One
Michael Redbourn — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 08:56:06 +0000
General Motors Corp is hoping that a recent, but as yet uncompleted deal between Chrysler and the United Auto Workers can quickly be modified to meet its own needs, and GM’s Chief Executive Officer Fritz Henderson said yesterday on a conference call, “I would expect we’d be able to pick up the pace here in the next several weeks”.
Henderson, who became CEO after President Barack Obama caused Rick Wagoner to step down, added that he is waiting for Chrysler to settle with the United Auto Workers, “The UAW is actually negotiating with two companies today, and one company (Chrysler) has a deadline of thirty days, and one company (GM) has a deadline of sixty days”.
GM, which faces a June 1 bankruptcy deadline, has been trying since December to cut its $20.4 billion cash obligation to the health-care trust in half, and was told by the Obama administration in March that it needs to make far deeper reductions in its debts.





Chrysler and the UAW (United Auto Workers) are close to an agreement which would involve the company ceding an equity stake of about 20%, in exchange for reducing its obligations to a $10.6 billion medical fund.
Union leaders and automakers agreed in their 2007 contract talks to create the trusts, called VEBA (Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Associations), with the intention being that they would free the companies from future retiree health-care expenses, in exchange for upfront contributions. 
The original VEBA agreement called for payments by GM of $32 billion, with the union assuming an estimated $47 billion in future health-care costs. 
In addition, GM is trying to convince its bondholders to accept a cut in the value of their debt, and the latest plan is to make a formal offer before April 27, which would involve bondholders swapping their claims for equity.






Related posts:

The Longest Recession In Seven Decades Continues to Worsen
Bailout recipients pay lobbyists almost $10 million.
Who Decided Which Chrysler Dealerships To Close?



The Longest Recession In Seven Decades Continues to Worsen
Michael Redbourn — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:45:17 +0000
A report just out from the payroll giant, ADP (Automatic Data Processing) says that the drop in its Employer Services gauge was larger than the 663,000 jobs that economists had forecast, and was the most since records began in 2001. Its February’s reading was revised upwards to show a cut of 706,000 workers from a previous estimate of 697,000. 
The figures were compiled by the forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers, using ADP payroll data from 400,000 businesses and it covered around 24 million workers.
The ADP report showed a reduction of 327,000 workers in goods-producing industries, and employment in manufacturing dropped by 206,000 whilst service providers cut 415,000 jobs.
A Labor Department report that is due out April 3 is expected to show that payrolls at companies and government agencies shrank by 658,000 in March, and that unemployment rose to a 25-year high of 8.5 percent.





Details in the ADP report show that companies which employed more than 499 workers reduced their workforces by 128,000 jobs; medium-sized businesses that employed between 50 to 499 employees, cut 330,000 jobs and smaller companies reduced their payrolls by laying off 284,000 people. 
In related news, President Barack Obama says that he believes that a quick, negotiated bankruptcy is the most realistic and likely way for General Motors Corp. to restructure itself, and to become a competitive automaker. He also said that he is prepared to let Chrysler LLC go bankrupt and to be sold off piecemeal if it’s unable to form an alliance with Fiat SpA.
If GM files for bankruptcy it will mark the fall of a corporate symbol that in 1962 controlled 51% of the domestic car market, and in 2004 posted a $2.8 billion profit, after which it all went wrong and it posted losses of $82 billion in the last four years.






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