Chrysler - Mama Mia, Ats Italian
It pains me to write this. I have bought and owned nothing but Chrysler Corporation products, all Dodges and one Jeep, since 1976. I have never had a bad one.
Now, this President issued orders to a PRIVATE company, an American icon, to partner with the Italian owned Fiat. Fiat, the mega automaker, is according to the latest statistics I can find is the 8th largest automaker in the world. Of all of the brands under the Fiat umbrella, only two of them are sold in these United States of America. With the Obama administration, the liberals and the environmentalist extreme pushing for Green stuff, like super fuel efficient cars, it does my heart good to see that Fiat exports two super fuel efficient cars to the United States. These two cars are the mega fuel efficient Ferrari (best EPA 2009 rating 11 City / 16 Highway) and Maserati (best EPA rating 11 City / 18 Highway). Well, wait a minute, they also sell the Alfa Romeo 8c here. The 8c is Alfa's muscle car, a 4.7L V-8 engine rated at 450HP. Another mega fuel efficient eco-friendly car that I am sure the tree huggers will wrap their arms around. The website www.fueleconomy.gov does not show any Alfa Romeo model information.
There are a couple of things that have me a bit frosted here.
1. The federal government ordered an American company to be bought by a foreign company. These are the same people who inserted the "Buy American" clause into their stimulus plan. Ironic, isn't it? Maybe they wanted foreign countries to buy America.
2. Fiat, Italian. Let's see now, what have the Italians done lately? WW I sided with the Allies, so we'll give them a win there. WW II sided with the Axis, lost big time. What have they done since?
3. Automakers - Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Fiat, Lamborghini, Maserati. How many Americans are buying these cars?
4. Oilve Oil - Good stuff
5. Pizza - Goes great with cold beer, cold American beer. Did the Italians really invent this? Same goes for pasta, but I think the Chinese get credit for that.
6. Wine - Didn't invent it, but it goes good with pasta.
Probably the biggest bone of contention I have is that the administration basically told those who had roughly 7 BILLION dollars of PRIVATE money invested in Chrysler to take a hike. These investors, hedge funds or not, represented a number of pension plans for hard working Americans. People like you and me. The investors said they would settle for about $250 Billion. The President said $200 Billion, then negotiated to $225 Billion. The investors held firm at 250 and were kicked to the curb, with the $8 Billion of OUR dollars going to banks that invested their TARP dollars in Chrysler. Wait, they were our TARP dollars. Something is wrong with this picture. At the same time, this administration has given a large percentage of ownership of Chrysler to the UAW as part of the "negotiation" process. Now there's a really smart move.
Now, this President issued orders to a PRIVATE company, an American icon, to partner with the Italian owned Fiat. Fiat, the mega automaker, is according to the latest statistics I can find is the 8th largest automaker in the world. Of all of the brands under the Fiat umbrella, only two of them are sold in these United States of America. With the Obama administration, the liberals and the environmentalist extreme pushing for Green stuff, like super fuel efficient cars, it does my heart good to see that Fiat exports two super fuel efficient cars to the United States. These two cars are the mega fuel efficient Ferrari (best EPA 2009 rating 11 City / 16 Highway) and Maserati (best EPA rating 11 City / 18 Highway). Well, wait a minute, they also sell the Alfa Romeo 8c here. The 8c is Alfa's muscle car, a 4.7L V-8 engine rated at 450HP. Another mega fuel efficient eco-friendly car that I am sure the tree huggers will wrap their arms around. The website www.fueleconomy.gov does not show any Alfa Romeo model information.
There are a couple of things that have me a bit frosted here.
1. The federal government ordered an American company to be bought by a foreign company. These are the same people who inserted the "Buy American" clause into their stimulus plan. Ironic, isn't it? Maybe they wanted foreign countries to buy America.
2. Fiat, Italian. Let's see now, what have the Italians done lately? WW I sided with the Allies, so we'll give them a win there. WW II sided with the Axis, lost big time. What have they done since?
3. Automakers - Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Fiat, Lamborghini, Maserati. How many Americans are buying these cars?
4. Oilve Oil - Good stuff
5. Pizza - Goes great with cold beer, cold American beer. Did the Italians really invent this? Same goes for pasta, but I think the Chinese get credit for that.
6. Wine - Didn't invent it, but it goes good with pasta.
Probably the biggest bone of contention I have is that the administration basically told those who had roughly 7 BILLION dollars of PRIVATE money invested in Chrysler to take a hike. These investors, hedge funds or not, represented a number of pension plans for hard working Americans. People like you and me. The investors said they would settle for about $250 Billion. The President said $200 Billion, then negotiated to $225 Billion. The investors held firm at 250 and were kicked to the curb, with the $8 Billion of OUR dollars going to banks that invested their TARP dollars in Chrysler. Wait, they were our TARP dollars. Something is wrong with this picture. At the same time, this administration has given a large percentage of ownership of Chrysler to the UAW as part of the "negotiation" process. Now there's a really smart move.
When a company sells stock, it sells it to shareholders. Then, majority shareholders vote on the best course of action for a company.
ReplyDeleteWhen the majority shareholder is the US Government, who votes for the best course of action? You see, Chrysler didn't have to take bailout cash, but they did, thus making the USG a major shareholder. The POTUS did not order anything. The Government acted as a shareholder.
Oh, and those investors that suffered the most, benefited the most during the hey-day of Chrysler. That's investing. That's capitalism.
ReplyDelete