Chrysler has filed for bankruptcy.
The only good thing about the prospect of automakers going into bankruptcy was that it was a chance for the government to un-do the damage it did by coercing them to meet the unsustainable terms of the auto unions. They could have removed the debts to the unions and called it a day.
Instead, they pretty much did the opposite, which neatly sums up what this administration is all about. Everyone but the unions was left holding the ball, and the government took over with their fascist “car czars.”
As you can see, with Chrylser it is going down in exactly the same way.
The automaker’s current majority owner, Cerberus Capital Management, is relinquishing its entire stake in the company.
The new majority owner will be Chrysler’s union retiree health fund, which would receive a 55 percent stake in the new company. Fiat would get a 20 percent stake, with its share potentially rising to 35 percent over time based on performance. The United States would take 8 percent, while the Canadian government, which is also providing financing, would receive 2 percent.
Chief executive Robert L. Nardelli, who was installed by former owner Cerberus, is stepping down, and Fiat’s leadership will take over. Chrysler’s board will include four representatives named by the U.S. government, three by Fiat, one by the union’s health trust fund, and one by Canada.
The unions are given the spoils, allowed to keep their unreasonable terms of operation, and the government is given seats on the board. And they didn’t even need to take a pesky vote on the matter – these days the bankruptcy courts can simply declare major corporations to be under the control of the government.
Mussolini would be proud. Welcome to the New America.
Glad to see someone else blogging on Independence Day. Is independence still held a virtue in America?
Your question makes me think of something that happened to me the other day.
I was explaining to a few Australian friends how I have to buy my soda with real sugar in it as a rare novelty. Because here in America, the land of the free, there’s a tax on sugar such that they use corn syrup in regular soda. I wasn’t very proud of America at that moment.
But shortly later, on Independence Day, I did feel proud of America. America the *idea*, that is. Because more than anything else, (and more than any *where* else) America is an idea.
Whatever is left of that idea today, it existed once. And it still exists, as an idea. That, at least, is worth celebrating.