Chrysler Pays Off Government Loans

[dave1949]

Dave - No problems. This is why I love this forum. All ideas are welcome and helpful.

MoKelly

Ditto.

 

[Kaizer Peas]

So now Fiat is about to swallow up Chrysler. Doesn't that make you feel optimistic?????:laughing:

 

[riptides]

So now Fiat is about to swallow up Chrysler. Doesn't that make you feel optimistic?????:laughing:

yeah.

So the US of A taxpayers in essence made it more palatable for a foreign entity to own a stake in a US of A taxpayer propped up company.

Rather odd, eh?

I guess it is like staging a house. Better to have furniture in it than not.

 

[dodge man]

Free market, thats a joke! There are some many rules and regulations, anti trust laws etc. Anybody that thinks our country is free market doesn't understand it. What they did for Chrysler is no worse than anything else they do, look at all the supourt they give the ag industry.

 

[20 20]

The US government has no business using taxpayer money to decide what private sector companies should live or die. It is just plain wrong.

MoKelly

:thumbsup: the problem is that government is in bed with corporate powers, that is where the problem comes into play. I feel these companies did this to themselves "got to big for their britches" and made the common citizen take up the slack, of course you don't see the heads of the company suffering to much :confused2: :drool: Not the America my ancestors would be proud of !!!!
I'm all for living the "American Dream" but if a company fails then sorry about their luck, it truly is black and white we need to get rid of all the gray. As far as the employes they also knew they were getting over payed, which inturn drives the price up. The problem then is the common Joe can't afford a new "American made truck" so he goes else where. Reminds me of what is happening with road construction, school system, etc... taxes keep going up but the people are seeing a whole lot less. These insitutions are doing it to themselves and want everyone else to feel their pain, I DON"T, but you can bet I'll pay one way or the other

 

[crazyal]

It seams to me Fiat could have just bought Chrysler when they went up for bankruptcy. Now we own a share of a private company. I guess you could look at it as it's the governments job to help people but I'll respectfully disagree. Our government should not decide whom to help or not help.

 

[ToaDisco]

It seams to me Fiat could have just bought Chrysler when they went up for bankruptcy. Now we own a share of a private company. I guess you could look at it as it's the governments job to help people but I'll respectfully disagree. Our government should not decide whom to help or not help.

X2

The big 3 are all taking money in some form, so I don't know how anyone can claim they are now on a sustainable business path. Claiming Chrysler (insert Ford and GM for all the brand loyalist idiots here) is now financially stable because they have figured out how to re-stack a pile of papers is laughable.


UPDATE 3-US hopes Chrysler will qualify for energy loans-Chu | Reuters

Chrysler applied for $3.5 billion in loans under the $25 billion financing program established by Congress in 2007 to help U.S. and other automakers retool old factories and make more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Applicants must make, or make parts for, advanced technology vehicles like gasoline/electric hybrids, plug-in electric cars or vehicles that use the latest drivetrain or fuel systems designed to save gasoline.

Applicants must also be financially viable.

Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said in April the loans would allow Chrysler to transform its truck-heavy lineup.

Marchionne also said he expected approval for the DOE loans to come "relatively quickly" after Fiat bought a 16 percent stake in the U.S. automaker.

The cash infusion announced in April should provide "additional comfort" to the agency regarding Chrysler's financial stability, he said.

Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote) and Japan's Nissan Motor Co Ltd (7201.T: Quote) have received $5.9 billion and $1.6 billion in loans respectively.

 

[300UGUY]

I believe in free enterprise as a principle, but show me a successful country that functions purely as a free enterprise system. It isn't as simple as you say in reality.

Sometimes practicality takes over, such as when the global economy is going rapidly down the tubes from an overdose of free market-ism. That doesn't mean we've abandoned principles.

No jobs at Ford when nobody has money to buy cars. They would be laying off and shutting plants, not hiring.

Oh well, this is getting too political. You go last :laughing:
Dave.

I am a Ford stockholder, but I think that a lot of folks don't see how interconnected the auto industry is. If GM & Chrysler had gone down, the supplier base would have collapsed also. And since Ford buys 50%+ of the content for it's vehicles, they wouldn't have been able to produce much. And BTW, in Ford had lost money for YEARS - Ford returned to profitibility in Q3 of 2009, after losing money for several years. They haven't paid a dividend in several years. Bill Ford in 2008 was just as scared as the CEO's of GM & Chrysler. Ford in some sense lucked out, it borrowed a bunch of money in 2006, basically mortgaging the entire company to get financing. GM at that time, was in a better financial position, and didn't need to borrow money then. If Ford had needed to borrow money in 2008, they would have been in the same hole as GM & Chrysler.

 

[300UGUY]

Free market, thats a joke! There are some many rules and regulations, anti trust laws etc. Anybody that thinks our country is free market doesn't understand it. What they did for Chrysler is no worse than anything else they do, look at all the supourt they give the ag industry.

The company I worked for bought some machining centers from a Japanese company a few years ago ( 2003). We found that the company was basically bankrupt, but the "Perfecture", Japan's term for a state, was subsidizing the purchase of the machines. The Japanese would rather provide subsidies, than provide welfare. I believe the company was eventually taken over by another Japanese company, in a government brokered deal. The free market is largely a myth in modern countries.

 

[timswi]

I am a Ford stockholder, but I think that a lot of folks don't see how interconnected the auto industry is. If GM & Chrysler had gone down, the supplier base would have collapsed also. And since Ford buys 50%+ of the content for it's vehicles, they wouldn't have been able to produce much. And BTW, in Ford had lost money for YEARS - Ford returned to profitibility in Q3 of 2009, after losing money for several years. They haven't paid a dividend in several years. Bill Ford in 2008 was just as scared as the CEO's of GM & Chrysler. Ford in some sense lucked out, it borrowed a bunch of money in 2006, basically mortgaging the entire company to get financing. GM at that time, was in a better financial position, and didn't need to borrow money then. If Ford had needed to borrow money in 2008, they would have been in the same hole as GM & Chrysler.

That is absolutely correct on all counts. Ford borrowed the money in a very loose credit market. That option wasn't available to the others when they needed it.