COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Saturday, May 02, 2009

The Obama Car-Talk Show Begins.




This will be choice. Obama is proposing that that senior secured lenders will be subordinated to union workers in ownership of the Chrysler company.

Eight US plants are to be closed and sold. These same plants are obviously in areas where the UAW workers live. The factories are at the epicenter of the major problem, which is unsustainable union demands, work rules and ethics.

The workers at these factories are being promised transfers to other Chrysler factories.

Questions

Who is going to buy these factories? To get the highest value, they would have to be used for what they were designed and that is automobiles or trucks. Anyone think that BWM or Toyota is going there?

The machinery equipment will be sold into a worldwide glut of used and obsolete depreciated capital equipment. There is more of that available than there are deserted sub prime houses. Most of it will be bought for scrap and end up being cut up to be used in China. They will not recover more than 5% of the original cost, most of which was spent on setup and installation.

Who is going to buy the cars?

While the bankruptcy case drags on will the Chrysler line up get better?

Will their service and parts be more available?

Will Team Obama allow the payment of retainage bonuses to demoralized but skilled people?

How about affirmative action on hiring and promotion, staffing and suppiers?



Here is what a modern car assembly plant looks like. Where are the workers? Are the UAW and government owners going to allow Chrysler to build a factory such as this?

The UAW workers and future shareholders point of view. They have some legitimate complaints, but how are you going to change this culture to a dynamic and profitable company? At what cost?

__________________________


May 2, 2009

Bankruptcy reality settles in at Chrysler

Automaker warns of likely trouble ahead

BY JUSTIN HYDE and GREG GARDNER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

The promise of a surgical bankruptcy turned into a gritty reality for Chrysler LLC and its workers Friday, as the company outlined its immediate hurdles and workers dealt with plant closings and -- in some cases -- canceled pension checks.

The factory shutdown will push the critical launch of the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee back by up to six months. Replacement parts for repairs on some Chrysler vehicles could run low in the next 60 days. And Chrysler needs court approval to spend $753 million in the same period on incentives for dealers to sell its vehicles.

Lawyers submitted more than 150 separate filings in the first full day since the filing, underlining the complexity that will challenge all parties to complete the process in the desired 30-60 days.

Chrysler is to use $10.5 billion from the U.S. and Canadian governments to consummate a marriage with Fiat SpA, in which Fiat eventually will own 35% of Chrysler while a health care trust fund for UAW retirees owns 55% and the United States and Canada own the rest.

The first day of hearings in the bankruptcy court in New York moved quickly. More serious objections could arise Monday, when Chrysler begins legal moves to seal the Fiat deal.

To bolster its position, Chrysler outlined the lack of options in its bankruptcy case.

Vice Chairman Tom LaSorda said the company had held talks with several automakers -- including General Motors Corp., Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Volkswagen -- that failed to produce a partner.

In recent weeks, Chrysler held what amounted to a five-day bazaar for Chinese companies, offering to sell engines, transmissions and entire vehicle lines.

All of this, LaSorda said, shows that the Fiat deal is the only way out for Chrysler.

"With Fiat, Chrysler has a way forward," he said.

Plant closings

As part of its filing, Chrysler named eight U.S. plants that would be closed by 2010 and sold to settle debts of the old Chrysler.

Three of the plants are in metro Detroit -- Detroit Axle, Conner Avenue Assembly and Sterling Heights Assembly.

Chrysler said Friday that virtually all of the workers at the affected plans would be offered jobs at the new Chrysler.

Frank Ewasyshyn, Chrysler's executive vice president of manufacturing, outlined the delay in the Grand Cherokee and other dangers from the immediate hibernation of its factories.

The government has guaranteed Chrysler's warranties, but Ewasyshyn warns that Chrysler dealers could run short of parts such as oil filters, usually built by the company or its suppliers, within 28 days if payments aren't restored and some production restarted.

"So, four weeks from today, a customer who purchased a Chrysler 300 will pull into his local dealer to have a taillight repaired ... and will be unable to get the parts necessary," he said.

He added, "The longer the sale to Fiat is delayed, the more likely this devastating scenario will occur."

Surprise realizations

Dealers learned Friday that Chrysler Financial, which is independent of Chrysler, no longer would finance their inventories. That work has been turned over to GMAC, also an independent company, as part of the bankruptcy.

About 1,800 Chrysler retirees were shocked to discover that their benefit payments were voided Friday morning.

Lynn Feldhouse of Rochester Hills actually saw the deposit disappear as she checked her bank account online. "This can't be good," Feldhouse said. "I called the bank, and they told me there was nothing they could do because they got a message from Chrysler telling them to reverse the entry."

The problem affected people who have a supplemental pension, which is not insured by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Because that portion is backed only by Chrysler, it becomes part of Chrysler's asset base in the bankruptcy.

Chrysler is aware of the problem and is telling those affected that they will receive the PBGC-insured portion by May 18.

Contact JUSTIN HYDE: 202-906-8204 or jhyde@freepress.com. Free Press columnist Susan Tompor contributed to this report.

Additional Facts
Chrysler's judge has dealt with big cases before
The judge overseeing Chrysler's bankruptcy filing is no stranger to high-profile cases.

Arthur Gonzalez presided over the closely followed bankruptcy cases of energy company Enron and telecommunications giant WorldCom.

But the Chrysler case presents a new twist for the New York bankruptcy judge: the involvement of the federal government and President Barack Obama. The president describes the case as a "surgical bankruptcy" and hopes for a quick resolution of the case.







52 comments:

  1. Speaking of cars, look at what this artist did to hers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What the heck is going on here?
    ...none of your pics or videos are coming up anymore.

    BUY FORD!

    ReplyDelete
  3. 'Rat talked of Ford=UAW vs Toyota.
    Not in that Great Factory in Brazil!
    ...Toyota sales USA down more than GM!
    I drive a (used) Toyota, but I'm cheering for Ford:

    How better to demonstrate the raw evil, greed, and wrongheadedness of Obamanation Socialism, than to have Ford excel?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ford should bring back the GT 40!
    One of the greatest ever made.
    ...not to mention the Shelby Cobra.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Toyota down 48%, I think.
    GM 34
    Honda 25

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anybody else have the no Pics/Video problem?
    ...I'll try Opera...

    ReplyDelete
  7. The old Chrysler is the only pic or video that comes up
    @ http://2164th.blogspot.com/ !

    ReplyDelete
  8. There is that, doug.

    I wouldn't want to be thought of as being anti-Ford, but as their man was saying on the Morning Joe, the other day, Ford does have UAW "partners". Which is quite a truthful perception of the UAW and its' role at Ford.

    So, depending upon one's own view of the UAW and their role in the demise of the US auto industry, the choice really is 'tween a Union shop or a nonUnion shop, Ford or Toyota.

    But certainly, buy a new Ford, if you want one.

    ReplyDelete
  9. It mat be your Polynesian INet provider, doug, here in America, the pictures and vids pop rightup, clear as a thousand words.

    ReplyDelete
  10. "Lynn Feldhouse of Rochester Hills actually saw the deposit disappear as she checked her bank account online."
    ---
    Poof!
    What a bizzare Real World Bummer.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Very Strange:
    Stripping Videos from us Pineapples!

    ReplyDelete
  12. 24. JWT:
    It still rankles and sickens me to see film of the B-52’s being chopped in pieces in the Arizona outback.

    And the stupidity that almost scrubbed the A-10 Warthog prior to Desert Storm.
    ---
    Seen that graveyard, 'Rat?

    ReplyDelete
  13. That's true we could have sold those B-52's to someone who needed them.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I had about 8 thousand tabs open from four days in Explorer:

    Closed them all, now pics and vids are back.
    Dumb Fuck

    ReplyDelete
  15. Yep, can't hardly miss it, if you cruise southeast Tucson. Acre upon acre of parked planes.

    Sell those B-52s and an entire naval carrier battle group to the Chi-coms, let them hold up their proportionate share of whirled security.

    Let Charlie Chi-com patrol the Somali coastline.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks but no thanksBC is a no HT Zone.
    Glad he got Andy's Great Effort Posted, tho.
    ...need one @ EB!
    ---

    > > > INTERROGATION WATCH: • ANDREW McCARTHY:
    -
    Why I Declined to Meet with the President’s Detention Policy Task Force
    -

    • McCarthy Sends His Regrets to the Justice Department-

    Read this letter that went to the Obama administration this morning.

    "...in light of public statements by both you and the President, it is dismayingly clear that, under your leadership, the Justice Department takes the position that a lawyer who in good faith offers legal advice to government policy makers—like the government lawyers who offered good faith advice on interrogation policy—may be subject to investigation and prosecution for the content of that advice, in addition to empty but professionally damaging accusations of ethical misconduct. Given that stance, any prudent lawyer would have to hesitate before offering advice to the government."
    ---
    "Obviously, I am powerless to stop the administration from releasing top al Qaeda operatives who planned mass-murder attacks against American cities—like Binyam Mohammed (the accomplice of “Dirty Bomber” Jose Padilla) whom the administration recently transferred to Britain, where he is now at liberty and living on public assistance. I am similarly powerless to stop the administration from admitting into the United States such alien jihadists as the 17 remaining Uighur detainees. According to National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair, the Uighurs will apparently live freely, on American taxpayer assistance, despite the facts that they are affiliated with a terrorist organization and have received terrorist paramilitary training. Under federal immigration law (the 2005 REAL ID Act), those facts render them excludable from the United States. The Uighurs’ impending release is thus a remarkable development given the Obama administration’s propensity to deride its predecessor’s purported insensitivity to the rule of law.

    I am, in addition, powerless to stop the President, as he takes these reckless steps, from touting his Detention Policy Task Force as a demonstration of his national security seriousness. But I can decline to participate in the charade.
    "

    ReplyDelete
  17. The idea @ BC was AUSTRALIA,
    not the Chi-Coms, 'Rat!
    You are one perverse dude!

    ReplyDelete
  18. 12. Leo Linbeck III:

    It’s enough to make your heart ache
    And proof of our electoral mistake

    That McCarthy today
    Can have nothing to say

    ‘Cause Holder acts like his namesake.

    ReplyDelete
  19. ...and the comments read like no-one read my comment 24 hrs ago.
    Woe is me!
    None so blind...

    ReplyDelete
  20. The Chinese have the money, doug.

    The Aussies would need credit, to buy a carrier battle group.

    Then they'd not have the sailors to man it.

    Nope, the Chi-coms are our partners in peace, they hold our debt and huge cash reserves, that's the perverse reality of the whirled.

    ReplyDelete
  21. doug,

    try updating your browser and your flash player

    ReplyDelete
  22. So, doug, you think that Mr McCarthy's principled stand will still be considered rightous, when we lose a city, due to his lack of participation.

    By withholding his expertise, he is putting US at risk. He should be drafted and forced to serve, paid a pittance for his time and knowledge.

    At least, he should be waterboarded, for his failure to serve the greater need of US security. Putting his partisan fears of less than perfection in government performance above the need of the saving a ciiy from destruction.

    ReplyDelete
  23. We'll have to send Omar over, to fit Andy for his burka.

    ReplyDelete
  24. al-Bob's Late Night Fantasy...wards off those nightmarish mutating killer viri from Mexican Swine.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Ash,
    Re-read my
    Sat May 02, 09:05:00 AM EDT
    but thanks, anyway.
    Dumb Fuck Doug

    ReplyDelete
  26. Andy McCarthy, grandstanding his personal political views, while risking the security of US cities by failing to heed the call to service.

    May pig fever turn his mind to mush. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  27. Strangely enough for China, their last major war was with Viet Nam thirty years ago. It did not go too well. The Chinese probably lost more men than the Americans did in our attempt to do what it was but I forget in Viet Nam.

    It did however scare the living gruel out of the Chinese over just how bad their military was. It probably had a profound affect on their ideas for economic reform so they could sell to Wal-Mart and earn the big bucks to create a modern military.

    Not many people say much about that war. The Chinese refuse to talk about it. I have spoken with some intelligent and informed Chinese who tell me they know nothing about it.

    ReplyDelete
  28. "our attempt to do what it was but I forget in Viet Nam."
    ---
    Prevent Dominos from Falling.

    ReplyDelete
  29. A land of dreams, so various, so beautiful, so newIn the tape the sheikh is seen torturing an Afghan grain salesman he claims has cheated … The 45-minute tape shows a man that the Government of Abu Dhabi has acknowledged is Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan — one of 22 royal brothers of the UAE President and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince — mercilessly and repeatedly beating a man with a cattle prod and a nailed board, burning his genitals and driving his Mercedes over him several times. He is assisted by a uniformed policeman.
    ---
    Oh Boy!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Outbreak in Mexico May Be Smaller Than FearedEven as swine flu spread to more countries, test results seemed to alter the image of the outbreak in Mexico.
    ---
    no shit
    -

    A-OK to come out from under your bed,
    al-Bob.

    ReplyDelete
  31. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Great Post, Deuce. You gotta feel sorry for the workers.

    The UAW "leadership," and the "big/little 3 management" ought to be in leg-irons. They could have Good jobs for half of those people, by now, instead of "disappearing" jobs for "All" of them.

    BTW, be careful, I think, with the Ford. If Chrysler, and GM really did come back "lean and mean," a doubtful proposition, I admit, Ford would be the dinosaur in the "crosshairs."

    Any second year accounting student should have been able to see this coming.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Dinosaurs Eat Green Frogs for lunch.

    ReplyDelete
  34. 1965 Shelby Cobra AC CobraIn 1967 the Cobra production line had come to an end and was the last production year for the 427 Cobra.
    Even though Carroll Shelby had to stop the production of the Shelby line, he is famous for a few other automotives that you may have heard about.

    Which included the Cobra, Mustang, Charger, and the GTO.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Don't snark at me "rice-burner," I drive a Chevy. A Flexfuel Chevy, thank you very much. :)

    ReplyDelete
  36. I did own one "rice-burner" back in the early 80's. Took it back to them with the motor in a box.

    I've owned a zillion fords.

    ReplyDelete
  37. All the cars look the same to me anymore.

    Looked to me like the big collapse in Boise was to the west, spreading out over towards Caldwell, Nampa way. Whole bunch of new neighborhoods over that way, where the bargains are I'd imagine.

    Put your faith in the Angel Moroni

    ReplyDelete
  38. Obummer Down To +1 In Rasmussan Ratings--


    -In other news, Clarence Thomas says the Fairness Doctrine is very troubling, problematic. Little unusual for a Supreme Court Justice to speak out on the issues.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Rufus,
    I read it differently with Ford. After Chrysler and the GM, Ford will have significant debtor's leverage with its' creditors and the UAW. If they do not dilute their common, they could have a good run with their new lineup of cars.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Yep, it could work out that way, Deuce. I hope it does.

    I see a big recovery coming. I just don't want to be bogged down with Anything that has "anything" to do with the UAW (or the politicians.)

    My next investment, though, will be a Still.

    ReplyDelete
  41. BTW, about the only thing that looks as good to me as C did at a buck is Nat Gas. Chilluns, they cain't perduce it at $4.00. Not enough of it, anyway. Half the "drilling rigs" have shut down.

    They've gotta get at least $8.30 to make a profit.

    ReplyDelete
  42. 2164th,

    From what I learned from my Dad, China's war with Vietnam did nothing other than bloody both sides, China much more than Vietnam.

    Those Chinese (my brother-in-law's dad was former PLA) I talked to who knew something about it kept insisting that China 'taught' Vietnam a lesson, but the unwritten message I got was that Vietnam retained its sovereignty, so China probably got its butt kicked badly, but as usual, didn't dare admit it.

    Interestingly enough, I also remember that Lee Kuan Yew was grateful to China for the war, because it further weakened Vietnam and prevented them from doing anything funny southwards.

    ReplyDelete
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