Chrysler-Gate

GM and Chrysler have been the two automotive companies that have come under heavy government scrutiny since receiving bailout money. The companies are running out of time to offer a restructuring plan to the Obama administration. The two seem destined for government controlled bankruptcy and closings.

Since March, President Obama has said that these companies would not be "wards of the state", but would be forced to stand on their own. But getting this far has cost the American taxpayers close to $28 Million. Needless to say, the federal government has invested quite a deal into the restructuring of GM and Chrysler and would have over 70% control of the company.

The President seems to be making a lot of decisions about the future and direction of these two companies. President Obama has already asked the CEO of GM to step down, whereas Chrysler's CEO volunteered to step down. President Obama has asked the restructured GM and Chrysler to implement tougher fuel standards.

Capitalism allows businesses to be free from government control and allows for survival of the fittest (only those companies that are profitable will continue to exist, whereas inefficient companies will close down). By coddling these companies, President Obama and President Bush have violated the basic rules of capitalism. If these companies were that inefficient, they should have been allowed to close regardless of how many workers would have been affected. Their closings would have allowed other businesses to capture more of the market share and employ workers displaced by the closings of GM and Chrysler when the economy rebounded.

Our founding fathers put in place a very elaborate political system because they knew that absolute power corrupts, absolutely. President Obama's Automotive Task Force, heading the Chrysler restructuring, has engaged in some less-than-honorable practices of patronage.

There are an estimated 789 dealerships that are set to close by June 9th which will result in approximately 38,000 jobs lost. This during a time when President Obama has been trying to create jobs to alleviate the high unemployment (which, as of Thursday, unemployment benefit requests dramatically decreased; a welcomed sign of the recession's end).

Chrysler President, Jim Press, has said that the decision on which dealerships to close and which would remain open "really wasn't Chrysler's" as the company is under pressure from President Obama's Automotive Task Force. Many of the closing dealers have been reported to donate large amounts of money to the Republican party. One particular dealer "conveniently" having his dealership closed is U.S. Representative Vern Buchanan (R-FL), whereas Mack McLarty (former Clinton White House Chief of Staff) and Robert Johnson (founder of Black Entertainment Television), both strong Democratic supporters, have been allowed to keep their dealerships.

U.S. Representative Aaron Shock (R-IL) has called for an investigation into the Obama Administration's methodology in determining which dealerships stay open and which close.

There is also a strong correlation between dealership closings and the congressional voting districts that President Obama did not carry in the 2008 Presidential election. Texas and West Virginia are getting hit hard, whereas the Republican districts in Florida are also seeing some of their dealerships close. The blue states Obama carried during the 2008 election seem to be receiving the better end of the deal.

There is no doubt in my mind that Chrysler needs to close some dealerships, but if the report from Chrysler President Jim Press is true, then the Obama Administration has unethically began closing dealerships in areas that are traditionally Republican. He may have done so out of spite for these Republican districts or to increase the unemployed that can benefit from some of his programs, helping him fair better in the 2012 election.

To me, this is the primary reason to keep the government out of business, no matter what the cost. When the President's friends start to make out better than enemies, the whole market is at a disadvantage (regardless of who is in office). And once again, President Obama, you have managed to show us that you are more of the same, and the promise of "Hope" and "Change" was just a ruse. The liberal media has yet to catch onto this story, and I doubt they ever will.

So, you heard it here first. I beat Fox News to it. And I know I'm going to catch flack for it on the online edition, but that's okay. I have always found it amazing how people will write such negative and nasty things online when they get to use an anonymous screen-name to hide their identities. I'm just reporting the truth, whether or not you want to hear it.