If there is a political message to found here, it has nothing to do with the advertisement itself. The ad is doing exactly what any good ad should do. In fact, it does more – Memeorandum is tracking reactions, people are writing columns about it, it is being posted on blogs and social networks. Chrysler is getting more than their money’s worth from this spot.

The political problem is with the underlying company. The problem is with the moral hazard unleashed when they were bailed out with taxpayer money. The problem is with the subsequent heavy handed politically motivated machinations orchestrated by the Obama administration in the bankruptcy proceedings. I would not want to buy a car from that company.

The move will save nearly 2,500 jobs.

All week I’ve watched GM CEO Ed Whitacre walking down a factory floor in a GM advertisement, crowing about repaying government loans while saying he could respect the opinion of those who did not want to give GM a “second chance”. It is good to know that Ed can respect my opinion of the bailout. He might be interested to know that my current opinion is that his claim that GM repaid the loan from the US Government in full and ahead of schedule is more than a little disingenuous. I hope Ed still respects me.

And they could break even this year. So while they won’t be paying back the government loans as soon as GM, they’re still on track to meet their obligations in the future. More from Wash Post: Chrysler, which emerged from bankruptcy last June, reported Wednesday that it lost $3.8 billion through the end of the [...]

Yep. We’ll never see that money again. And certainly not 5 years ahead of schedule. Just like we’ll never see the TARP money again. From the AP: GM got a total of $52 billion from the U.S. government and $9.5 billion from the Canadian and Ontario governments as it went through bankruptcy protection last year. [...]

Who’s this guy? Meet Kenneth R. Feinberg, the new pay “czar” for the White House. He’s tasked with reigning in the out of control compensation at companies the government helped recently. I think it should be noted right off the bat that this is tied to executive compensation and bonuses…two pots of money that are [...]

Lots of “clunking” going on this morning at the Donk, but it’s the hot topic and since this criticism comes from a Dem I thought it worthy of pointing out some opposition from my side of the fence. From her Tumblr blog: Of course the cash for clunkers program is popular, we’re giving away money. [...]

TIMES crunches the numbers and comes up with some encouraging data… The initial data released by Department of Transportation, however, shows that so far cash for clunkers has been a green success. The clunkers averaged 15.8 m.p.g., compared with 25.4 m.p.g. for the new vehicles purchased, for an average fuel-economy increase of 61%. On the [...]

A new website for the controversial, popular program is up and it includes some things you need to know if you’d like to take advantage. Your vehicle must be less than 25 years old on the trade-in date Only purchase or lease of new vehicles qualify Generally, trade-in vehicles must get 18 or less MPG [...]

It’ll be a while before we know if this arrangement will work or not, but I can’t help but think a new G.M. that builds better, greener autos will be competitive in the future. From NY Times: “We deeply appreciate the support we’ve received during this historic transformation and will work hard to repay the [...]

Hello this is Mike Fritz from the American News Project. We have a new story out that focuses on those most affected by the bailout of General Motors: laid off autoworkers. It examines one of the central tensions in the public takeover of the company: Should federal dollars be spent building a lean, mean business [...]

Interesting link to new corporate logos…

Not too many people are dancing over the news of GM’s bankruptcy, but opinions are decidedly mixed on what the government ownership of the car company will mean. Lee Cary, of American Thinker sees the era of Government Motors dawning with coercive attempts to force a Green fleet onto American consumers. This, in Cary’s opinion, [...]

All the kings horses and all the bond deals couldn’t keep GM from cracking. As feared, the car giant has filed for bankruptcy. Now what? The plan is for the federal government to take a 60 percent ownership stake in the new GM. The Canadian government would take a 12.5 percent stake, with the United [...]

This is an extreme example, but I can’t help but think car companies can easily hit the 35 MPG mileage standards Obama is about to lay out if the following is possible for a street ready car. From Green Car: Volkswagen’s CEO, Martin Winterkorn recently confirmed the company is working on a car that will [...]

This is a pretty big stake in the ground, because they’ll be using California’s standards…the toughest in the nation. No doubt you’ll be hearing that this is bad for business, but that’s what they said about seat belts, airbags and every other time CAFE standards were raised. And I think we’re all fairly aware that [...]

In a bid to survive bankruptcy, Chrsyler is closing nearly 800 dealerships, a full quarter of the company’s dealers. The dealers themselves had no say. While bankruptcy may be a better long-term solution for Chrysler than continued government bailouts, the short-term will not be pretty. Car dealerships provide a lot of jobs and a lot [...]

Despite all the government assistance and talk of providing more, GM lost $6 billion last quarter with earnings dropping by 47%. GM executives say car buyers are turning away from GM out of concern the company will end up in bankruptcy and won’t honor its warranties. Could the prospect of bankruptcy help force bankruptcy? To [...]