Chrysler: already blowing the money

(Cross Posted from Indiana's Conservative Hardball)

So we ended up bailing out the car companies (well, except for Ford...). People were against it, they rang up the switch boards at the US Capitol. And certain lawmakers are going to have a difficult reelection because of it.

There's been talk of a "Car Czar" as a watchdog to make sure that the bailout money is spent correctly. And my initial thought was "it's not government's job to do something like that".

Well, then Chrysler went and did something like this... Maybe a watchdog may not be such a bad idea after all...

Chrysler went ahead and took out a series of full-page newspaper ads to thank Americans for "investing" in the company through the government's $17.4 billion dollar bailout plan

So, the money we gave them to fix their companies troubles, were used to advertise a "thank you note". Maybe they don't get it; public opinion towards the auto bailout was not about 30% last I had checked.

These ads ran last week in newspapers like:
USA Today
The Wall Street Journal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Let's talk dollars here a moment. Even though circulation is down... USA Today and the Wall Street Journal still have the highest circulation rate in the country. And these ad's aren't cheap people.

Full-page ads in the WSJ run between $206,000 to $264,000 and a full-page in the USA Today run between $112,000 and $217,000 according to their respective websites.

Chrysler's ad pledged to produce cars and trucks that are "attractive to consumers and improve their fuel economy".

Here's a concept: how's about using the money to actually produce a car, rather than use it to rub in our faces that you got your money against the will of the American people?

When Chrysler was among a group of automakers who started buying their steel from foreign companies and in effect, closed down steel mills in Northwest Indiana and Pennsylvania, we didn't bailout steel mill workers and companies. We let them fold up and put hundreds, if not thousands out of work because the car companies wanted to save money.

So I should have sympathy for GM?

I did my part to help save GM; last year, my wife and I bought two vehicles. A Chevy Equinox and a Chevy Cobalt.

And in my opinion, that's the only help they will get from me again. My next car will be a Honda. At least I know it was made in America...