McCain says Chrysler unlikely to survive

[rickaren]

November 15, 2009 McCain says Chrysler unlikely to survive | detnews.com | The Detroit News

McCain says Chrysler unlikely to survive

Arizona Sen. John McCain said Sunday that Chrysler Group LLC is unlikely to survive, despite receiving nearly $15 billion in government loans.

McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, reiterated his opposition to the $80 billion auto industry bailout begun by President George W. Bush last December.

"No, I don't think we ever should have bailed out Chrysler and General Motors," McCain said in Arizona, where he was serving as grand marshal of at the NASCAR Sprint Cup series race at the Phoenix International Raceway. "We should have let them go into bankruptcy, emerge and become viable corporations again."

Both GM and Chrysler underwent bankruptcy restructurings this summer, and have since emerged as new companies with healthier balance sheets.

McCain suggested the decision to inject billions into the automakers was because of the political clout of the United Auto Workers union -- and other unions.

"It was all about the unions. The unions didn't want to have their very generous contracts renegotiated so we put $80 billion into both General Motors and Chrysler, and anybody believes that Chrysler is going to survive, I'd like to meet them," McCain said.

Fiat SpA received a 20 percent stake in Chrysler as part of the Auburn Hills automaker's exit from bankruptcy and Fiat's CEO, Sergio Marchionne, is now running Chrysler. The company outlined this month a vision for the next five years.

The UAW insists it made tough sacrifices to save the automakers.

As part of the deal, the UAW agreed at GM and Chrysler to $7 an hour in givebacks in wages and benefits, gave up the right to strike through 2015 and swapped billions in health care payments owed to retirees in exchange for equity in the automakers. The UAW has also seen tens of thousands of members accept buyouts or early retirements.

"We see the automotive industry, and my heart goes out to the citizens of Detroit, really in the tank, and yet we have manufacturing plants all over the South, which are not bound by some of the labor rules and contracts that make them non-competitive," McCain said.

This isn't the first time McCain has criticized the auto bailout, even though he supported aiding automakers during the 2008 campaign for president.

"Chrysler finally filing for bankruptcy! Wish they would have done it months ago as I called for -- could have saved taxpayers $26.7 billion!" he wrote May 1 on his Twitter account.

He also compared the deal to communism and socialism. "President (proposes) government/union takeover of GM and Chrysler -- Lenin would be smiling," he wrote on April 30, referring to the former Soviet leader.

Two days earlier, he wrote: "UAW eventually owning 55% of Chrysler stock and the U.S. Gov owning the rest -- if that isn't socialism, what is?"

My reply: "Is this the same statement he would have made if he had won the Election?" What's yours?

[UN4GTBL]

i'm sure he won a lot of fans with this one

[rickaren]

Now he is blaming the Unions, too!

[rickaren]

Rep. Peters takes issue with McCain’s Chrysler slam

Posted on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 2:04 PM EST. (Employee News)



Michigan Congressman Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, yesterday challenged Arizona Sen. John McCain’s prediction that Chrysler Group LLC should never have been bailed out and is unlikely to survive despite receiving about $15 billion in government loans, The Detroit News reported.

Peters, who represents Auburn Hills, where Chrysler is headquartered, took issue with the comments made Sunday by McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, who said helping Chrysler and General Motors Co. was a bad political decision, the paper said. While serving as grand marshal of a NASCAR race in Arizona, McCain said, “Anybody believes that Chrysler is going to survive, I’d like to meet them.”

Peters has accepted the offer and sent McCain a letter in which the congressman said he “will meet with you at your convenience to discuss the future of Chrysler and the contribution they make to our nation’s economy,” the News said.

“Better yet, I’d be more than happy to bring you to my district to meet with thousands of Americans who are working hard every day to design new and exciting vehicles and ensure the continued future of the American automobile industry,” Peters wrote. “Hopefully then you might choose to be a partner in the continued success of an industry critically important to our country.” (The Detroit News)

[rickaren]

Exclusive: U.S. encouraged by Fiat plan for Chrysler: Bloom

Wed Nov 18, 2009



WASHINGTON The U.S. government is encouraged by the turnaround plan for Chrysler presented by Fiat SpA but will not push for a quick offering of the automaker's shares, a senior official said.

"We see management with a huge sense of urgency. We see a huge dedication and commitment, working extremely hard," Ron Bloom, who heads the Obama administration's autos task force told Reuters on Tuesday. "It's an ambitious plan."

The U.S. Treasury directed and funded a restructuring of the No. 3 U.S. automaker in bankruptcy that gave operational control of Chrysler and an initial 20-percent stake to Fiat.

Earlier this month, Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said Chrysler would break even on a net basis by 2011 in presenting a long-awaited restructuring plan.

Fiat's five-year turnaround plan projects that Chrysler can more than double sales as it rolls out a dozen new models built on Fiat platforms.

The Marchionne plan hinges on the view that Chrysler can recover market share lost as the automaker slid toward bankruptcy and that the U.S. market will gradually recover.

Bloom said it was likely that the an initial public offering of Chrysler shares would come after GM's IPO and probably not earlier than 2011.

"Sergio Marchionne has said he thought it was a 2011 event but I think in fairness Sergio would tell you there's a fair amount of uncertainty in that," Bloom said.

"We're not going to push them into the market when the market isn't ready for them. I think Sergio was clear...that they've got a lot of work to do."

The U.S. government holds an 8-percent stake in Chrysler. A health care trust affiliated with the United Auto Workers union holds 55 percent of Chrysler.

Union officials remain in talks with Chrysler about where a number of vehicles in the Fiat plan will be produced, including new mid-sized sedans.

Bloom, who had been an adviser to the United Steelworkers union until joining the Obama administration in February, said the U.S. government would not intervene in those talks.

"We're not going to involve ourselves in plant location decisions. At the end of the day, the board of directors will decide where to locate plants and where to put product," he said.

"GM and Chrysler have a very competitive cost structure in North America, so I think there's a lot of business logic for making cars in North America. We trust they'll follow business logic but we're not going to follow it with a dictate," Bloom said.

LINK:Exclusive: U.S. encouraged by Fiat plan for Chrysler: Bloom | Reuters