Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Peter Schiff on Chrysler and the Auto Industry

Chrysler has not been profitable for years; and with Washington calling all the shots, the potential for long-term viability has been dashed.

A real bankruptcy is the only solution. In it, current shareholders get wiped out, current contracts and obligations are voided, and the remaining assets, both physical and intellectual, are sold to the highest bidders. But the process would create the opportunity for new management, with private capital, to buy auto-producing assets for pennies on the dollar, hire skilled auto workers at much lower costs, scrap out-of-date business practices, and produce cars cheaply and profitably. Under the guise of "saving jobs," the Administration has disrupted this process...

Giving control of Chrysler, and soon GM, to the UAW and the government will enshrine a culture of failure and seal Detroit's fate. Both companies will become government-sponsored entities, not too dissimilar from Amtrak or the Post Office, forever relying on taxpayer funds to create products of dubious quality.

read the essay

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