No clue if it's good or bad, but it's happened.
The U.S. Supreme Court has at least temporarily blocked the sale of Chrysler LLC's assets to a new Chrysler-Fiat partnership, according to an order released this afternoon.
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The court ordered a halt to the sale pending further directions, without elaboration. Chrysler, Fiat and the U.S. government had been prepared to close the sale as soon as today if an appeal from the Indiana state pension fund had been rejected.
See, a winger (starting from the basis that Obama is teh evil Socialist Overlord) started digging around looking at the political affiliation of the owners of Chrysler dealerships that were being closed. And what did he find?
The initial pass at the list of shuttered dealers showed they had donated, in the aggregate, millions to Republican candidates and PACs and a total of $200 to Barack Obama.ZOMG!! You see!! The Republicans are being targeted!! (and then they go into spastic map and percentage induced conspiracy theory dementia that makes the local old folks home look like Harvard)
In fact, I have thus far found only a single Obama donor ($200 from Jeffrey Hunter of Waco, Texas) on the closing list.
Another review of all 789 closing dealerships, by WND, found $450,000 donated to GOP presidential candidates; $7,970 to Sen. Hillary Clinton; $2,200 to John Edwards and $450 to Barack Obama.
There is just one problem with this theory. Nobody has bothered to look up data for the control group: the list of dealerships which aren't being closed. It turns out that all car dealers are, in fact, overwhelmingly more likely to donate to Republicans than to Democrats -- not just those who are having their doors closed.Damn you Nate Silver!! /shakes fist
By GottaLaff
Via Breaking News Tweets:
Officials tell The Associated Press that the Obama administration is giving General Motors financing for 60 days to restructure; Chrysler will get up to $6 billion and 30 days to complete alliance with Italian automaker Fiat.Slooowwww right now.
By GottaLaff
On Monday, he is scheduled to appear on ABC’s The View [...] Then on Tuesday, O’Reilly is scheduled to appear as a guest on David Letterman’s show. (You can contact Letterman’s show by emailing cbsmailbag@aol.com).Let's hope at least one of those shows nails him for this. I can't imagine the View hosts will let him get away without some sizzle, especially after their little tete-a-tete with John McCain.
Chrysler LLC spokeswoman Carrie McElwee has responded to our Stop Supporting The O’Reilly Harassment Machine campaign with this statement:Rotate that, O'LIElly.We appreciate the diverse audience that television programming allows us to reach.
Chrysler buys network cable as a package but we currently do not have the O’Reilly Factor in our media rotation at this time.
Let me dig around in the couch... You can see the auction here.
WASHINGTON -- A luxury Chrysler sedan President-elect Barack Obama drove before winning the White House is being auctioned off on eBay. Starting bid: $100,000.
Tim O'Boyle, the general manager of a restaurant in Hillside, Ill., is selling Obama's steel blue 2005 Chrysler 300C Hemi on the Internet auction site, hoping to cash in on history. The price is a cool $1 million under eBay's "Buy It Now" option.
(snip)
The Kelley Blue Book values a 2005 Chrysler 300C in excellent condition at $15,750.
Montalban stopped doing Chrysler commercials, Chrysler tanks. Coincidence?
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles city councilman says Ricardo Montalban has died. He was 88. The Mexican-born actor, who became a star in splashy MGM musicals and later the wish-fulfilling Mr. Roarke in TV's "Fantasy Island," died at his home in Los Angeles, City Council President Eric Garcetti said Wednesday.UPDATE- Edited to include Patrick McGoohan.
Patrick McGoohan, the man who embodied hope over despair in the coolest way imaginable in the 1960s cult TV classic The Prisoner, has died--he was 80 years old.
By GottaLaff
Liveblogging, plus reporting some odds and ends:
MSNBC is reporting that Chrysler's December U.S. sales fell 53% from last year. Happy days are here again.
Jonathan Alter: Obama spoke to the press about his Recovery and Reinvestment Plan to create 3 million new jobs, $650-750 billion dollars, 1.5 trillion new dollars that are planned to be spent if you add the previous plans (TARP, for example). Obama wants to save "a terribly sick economy" and must spend huge amounts of money.
Obama wants to post online, parts of the stimulus package as they are implemented, to have some transparency.
According to Krugman:
Let’s not mince words: This looks an awful lot like the beginning of a second Great Depression. [...]Obama wants to move more aggressively than FDR did in 1933, per Alter.News reports say that Democrats hope to pass an economic plan with broad bipartisan support. Good luck with that.
In reality, the political posturing has already started, with Republican leaders setting up roadblocks to stimulus legislation while posing as the champions of careful Congressional deliberation — which is pretty rich considering their party’s behavior over the past eight years.
More broadly, after decades of declaring that government is the problem, not the solution, not to mention reviling both Keynesian economics and the New Deal, most Republicans aren’t going to accept the need for a big-spending, F.D.R.-type solution to the economic crisis.
The biggest problem facing the Obama plan, however, is likely to be the demand of many politicians for proof that the benefits of the proposed public spending justify its costs — a burden of proof never imposed on proposals for tax cuts.All of this leaves me concerned about the prospects for the Obama plan. I’m sure that Congress will pass a stimulus plan, but I worry that the plan may be delayed and/or downsized. And Mr. Obama is right: We really do need swift, bold action.
Here’s my nightmare scenario: It takes Congress months to pass a stimulus plan, and the legislation that actually emerges is too cautious. As a result, the economy plunges for most of 2009, and when the plan finally starts to kick in, it’s only enough to slow the descent, not stop it. Meanwhile, deflation is setting in, while businesses and consumers start to base their spending plans on the expectation of a permanently depressed economy — well, you can see where this is going.
So this is our moment of truth. Will we in fact do what’s necessary to prevent Great Depression II?
Geez, it's not like he had it all pimped out. And is it any more fuel inefficient than a Silverado or any other big SUVs that are so popular? Classy looking car for a classy guy.
NEW YORK (Fortune) – One of the least explored personal sides to our new president is the amount of gasoline in his veins. We know all about his affection for the basketball court and his tendency every now and then to sneak out for a cigarette. But we've heard very little about what drove him to acquire one of the least politically-correct cars on the planet: a Chrysler 300C. With its high torque and horsepower, voracious appetite for fuel and gangsta car persona, it is hardly the kind of vehicle you'd expect a consensus-building politician to drive. But those are Obama's wheels.
Or were. During the campaign he sold the 300C in favor of a hybrid Ford Escape, and as president of the United States, he won't be getting into the driver's seat very often - unless he's at a military base or some other secure location where he can let loose. He'll be spending all his time in the back seat of an armor-plated Cadillac.
By GottaLaff
All 30 Chrysler plants will close for one month, per CNN. Ford is adding a week to its normal 2-week holiday shutdown schedule. 46,000 Chrysler workers will be affected.
The CNN money guy is saying this could trigger bankruptcy.
Chrysler union workers will be paid, but not full salary.
Chrysler announced Wednesday it is closing all its North American manufacturing plants for at least a month, the starkest move taken by U.S. automakers as they anxiously await word about government loans.It's been more than a month since the White House started "looking at" what they could, or would, do.[...] Chrysler and General Motors fear they might not have enough money to pay their bills in a matter of weeks.
Attempting to cut costs, GM was halting construction of a plant tied to one of its most important projects, the Volt. Ford also said it will shut down 10 plants for an extra week in January because of sluggish sales.
Chrysler said it would extend the normal two-week holiday shutdown that begins Friday to at least Jan. 19 at all 30 of its factories due to slumping sales.
Sluggish auto sales worldwide are taking a toll on foreign automakers as well. Honda Motor Corp. said Wednesday that it would halt expansion in Japan, Turkey and India and cut 450 temporary workers in Japan through February.
Nissan Motor Co. said it would reduce Japanese production by 78,000 vehicles and also cut 500 temporary workers there.
What a crock.
Ford's CEO Alan Mulally plans to ride in a Ford hybrid all the way to Washington to make the point that he's a true penitent. The others apparently intend to fly commercial for their appearances before congressional committees later this week.
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