Kirk spurned; Chrysler doomed

Looks like "Dr. Z." hosed off financier Kirk Kerkorian's bid to buy
the mismanaged and moribund Chrysler Group from Daimler, with DC
instead accepting an offer from the nebulous "Cerberus Group," chock
full of Republipedo operatives like failed Bushie Treasury secretary
John Snow as chairman, and "advisor" Dan Quayle. Snow was the former
head of CSX Transportation during a period when jobs and service were
slashed to the bone to get in on a government giveaway of the former
Conrail in the Northeast, all at taxpayer expense, of course. His
pandering and spinning for the failed Bush Bird administration are the
stuff of legend. Quayle, of course, needs no introduction, being the
mutton-headed moron of Bush I's tenure, quite possibly the only guy in
Washington to utter more gaffes than the current moron in the White
House.

Bad move, Dr. Z. Chrysler will now be "stripped and flipped" to make
a bundle while Snow and his henchmen pull all sorts of borderline
illegal fraud to feed their greed, being protected somewhat by taking
the company private. Watch for huge layoff/plant closure notices in
the fall with even worse management decisions following reliably
afterward, including balls-to-the-wall offshoring and outsourcing.

No comment yet from Lee Iacocca, but I can only imagine what HE'LL
say. It was the very same type of clowns like Snow and Quayle who
almost were successful in derailing the Chrysler loan guarantees in
the disastrous RayGun years. What the RayGun bandits wanted to happen
was for Chrysler to go bankrupt so they could scoop up the carcass and
"flip" parts of it for huge profit. The guarantees denied them of
that opportunity, and a rebuilt Chrysler, which powered back to life
riding the ubiquitous K car platform in its many derivations, turned
into a worrisome competitor to reliable GOP benefactors GM and Ford
until the krauts got involved at the behest of Iacocca's former
finance guy, Bob Eaton. Eaton sold out and "took the money and ran,"
according to Iacocca, who was supremely pissed off at Eaton's move to
sell Chrysler to an already mismanaged Daimler AG. Iacocca now says
that his decision to have Eaton succeed him at Chrysler Corporation
was "the biggest mistake of my life." Although no confirmation was
ever given, it was rumored that Iacocca was teaming up with Kerkorian
for another run at a Chrysler turnaround.

Sic transit Chrysler. If you have an older Chrysler, best to dump it
now, since OEM parts will probably be impossible to get in the next
couple of years.

I wonder how much "Dr. Z." got in his back pocket to turn down
superior offers?

 

and you own a 1986 Chrysler...

I rest my case, you're an idiot

dump as "older Chrysler" ?? are you NUTS ? The Hemi cars are
bringing over a million each $$

you DUMB ASS !

 

....and the only thing you can AFFORD is a used 2002 Saturn
WAAAAAAAAAAAAGON, the child molester's favorite, bought at yet another
dead coal miner's estate sale in the toxic, depressed NE section of
Penna. I have the old M-body as a weekender, a big car I can fit five
people in when the need arises. It probably gets the same gas mileage
as your decrepit Potty-tank Grand Slam OR your Saturn "Child Molester
Special" WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGON and it has a 318. We won't even discuss
your rust bucket Ford pickup...you know, the one you had to rip the
rims and tires off of a couple years ago to eBay them so you could
afford xmas presents for your battered wife and mentally disadvantaged
kid?

Who's the dumb ass? Do you think the "Snow Job Group" is going to
keep up parts production for early LH models? I don't THINK so. There
WAS a time when Chrysler had a 20 year parts support policy for
critical parts not made by the aftermarket. I'm sure THAT'S going to
go down the crapper, and soon.

elkhound = Charlie Nudo of Drums, PA...eBay fraudster, Usenet stalker
and tax cheat extrordinaire.

 

DeserTBooB wrote:
<a bunch of the usual drivel, mercifully snipped>

Of course its absolutely impossible that just maybe a group of
conservatives *might* try to save an American icon from foreign ownership.

Not saying that will happen, but its not impossible.

 

Nothing's "impossible," but their track records say otherwise. Odds
are that it's another "strip 'n flip" job in the making. Snow, being
an accomplished pubic liar, says he wants to "rescue the Chrysler
name." Tell me another one, Snowie...with boobs like Quayle as
"advisors," how can there be any success? Another sign of trouble:
The "Snow Job Group" has retained DC's Bernhardt as an "advisor."
Bernhardt self-credits himself with the 300 and Charger projects
....both of which racked up stunning cost overruns with little return
on investment.

One glaring forecast comes from Snow's recent past itself before
become an "official" Bushie. Ask any shipper who had to deal with CSX
under Snow (not to mention their workforce...what's left of it) and
you'll get the idea. He "stripped" CSX to come up with a slush fund
to pay for his GOP-rigged bid for taxpayer-owned Conrail, knowing
that, if successful, he'd wind up owning Conrail for pennies on the
dollar...the TAXPAYER'S dollar...in yet another
taxpayer-to-GOP-contributor giveaway. As it turned out, Norfolk
Southern was successful in blocking the CSX gobbling of CR by
demanding an apportioned selloff to both carriers for a lot more
money, closer to CR's book value of over $10B at the time, instead of
the $1.5B Snow had finnagled with Newt ("The Galoot") Gingrich and his
hooligans then running Congress. NS, being well managed and flush
with cash, could well afford it; Snow's CSX barely made it. After
threatening to back out, hubris led Snow to grovel back into the deal,
getting approximately half of CR's trackage and plant for more cash
than he originally had planned with his Gingrich-crafted theft deal.
Immediately after closure, Snow set about "stripping and flipping"
much of his new property to ill-funded short line operators and local
governments striving to at least preserve some semblence of service,
saving only the mainlines and trackage rights from Amtrak for CSX
operation. No such "strip 'n flip" seems to have taken place on the
NS side, however...a telling fact in itself.

Why and how did NS get Congress to block the CR giveaway to Snow? One
only has to look who served in Carter's cabinet to get that
answer...not that Steve has that kind of perspicacity.

Other "Snow Job Group" strip 'n flips: Mervyn's Department Stores, a
shell of its former self with about 40% of its outlets closed and now
rumored to be a sale candidate, and the Idaho-based Albertson's
Grocery chain, a large western regional which ran into a brick wall
with a ruinous labor policy and lockout charted by professional union
buster lawyers, which left the chain cash and sales poor. The "strip
'n flip" is now going on there as well, along with the usual "cost
reductions." Only winners in that debacle were the lawyers;
Albertson's management wound up with a burned out hulk and a ton of
lawsuits that they've been steadily losing since the big lockout.
Arch-competitor Kroger, who bought out a similarly burned out LA-based
Ralphs Grocery Company (found guilty, even by a GOP-rigged NLRB, of
many egregious labor law violations and has to pay back pay to every
employee locked out in thatr lockout action) is now kicking the
Snow-led Albertson's ass in any market where they are engaged in
direct competition. Locally-owned (Colton, CA) Stater Bros. will
probably wind up with the rest of Albertson's California outlets, but
will dictate price, thus foiling any real profit from the "Snow job."
Snow can't sell to Kroger, as the FTC will surely reject any such deal
on anti-trust grounds, especially now with a Democratic controlled
Congress and Bush's approval below 30%...again. (Newsweek, May 4-5)

 

all at taxpayer expense, of course.
Oh, a given.

 

Bob's back! Man, it seems like it's been forever since we've been trolled.

 

yes, that "glub-glub-glub" sound he makes, is himself gurgling in his
own California shitwater again....

 

someday DoucheBob may learn, not to watch CNN, then post what is says-
it's never the correct information, or the "whole" story

http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/14/news/companies/chrysler_uaw/index.htm?postversion=2007051417

The UAW's wary dance with Chrysler's buyer
Chrysler's new owners' success turning around losses at the company
depends on winning concessions from a union now giving the deal wary
support.
By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney.com senior writer
May 14 2007: 5:15 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The most surprising part of the Chrysler
sales announcement Monday was the vote of support for the sale of the
automaker to Cerberus Capital Management voiced by by Ron
Gettelfinger, the president of the United Auto Workers union.

While a sale of Chrysler has appeared to be a foregone conclusion for
months, union support of a deal seemed like a pipe dream, especially
with recent warnings from Gettelfinger that private equity firms were
looking to "increase their wealth by stripping and flipping" companies
in the auto sector.

But many experts say it will be an even bigger surprise if the mutual
support that the UAW and Cerberus voiced for each other Monday can
continue in the tumultuous months ahead. They point out that Cerberus
has seen its proposed multibillion-dollar investment in bankrupt auto
parts maker Delphi stalled as negotiations between Delphi and the UAW
have dragged on past one self-imposed deadline after another.

Crucial cars for Chrysler
And some experts say the $7.4 billion that Cerberus is putting into
the deal, basically to capitalize Chrysler going forward, only makes
sense if Chrysler wins deep cost cuts from the union in upcoming
negotiations.

"I've got to feel that Cerberus is counting on getting advantageous
contracts terms," said Tulane University Finance Professor Peter
Ricchiuti. "Otherwise the deal doesn't make sense."

Indeed, if Chrysler as well as General Motors (Charts, Fortune 500)
and Ford Motor (Charts, Fortune 500) can win some significant
concessions from the union when their current labor deals with the UAW
expire in September, they will be in a much better competitive
position versus their nonunion rivals such as Toyota Motor (Charts)
and Honda Motor (Charts). Then Cerberus's bargain-basement purchase of
Chrysler will look like a steal.

But winning those concessions will be difficult and could be
expensive. The union has thus far refused to give Chrysler the cost
savings on retiree health care that it has granted to GM and Ford,
leaving Chrysler at an estimated $600-a-vehicle cost disadvantage
compared to its U.S. rivals and an bigger gap compared to Japanese
automakers. And the UAW is already facing plant closings and the
evaporation of 9,000 of its members' jobs as Chrysler moves ahead with
plans to stem losses.

Daimler pays to dump Chrysler
David Cole, the chairman of the Center for Automotive Research, said
he's been told by a couple of different sources that Cerberus and the
UAW officials met over the weekend, ahead of the announcement from
DaimlerChrysler (Charts) early Monday that it would sell the money-
losing unit to Cerberus.

Cole said the expression of support for the deal by Gettelfinger might
be read by some as a signal that Cerberus and the union might have
some rough framework of a labor deal in the works already. But he said
it's far too soon to predict clear sailing ahead in the upcoming make-
or-break auto talks.

"They have to have talked at great depth about what they're going to
do," said Cole. "We really don't know exactly how it's going to
unfold, but it's going to unfold probably pretty soon."

Cole and other experts said that the UAW, despite the words of support
for the deal Monday, can't be happy about the choices that await its
leadership and its members heading into these talks.

Chrysler's price: Embarrassingly low
"There's really no good answer from union perspective," said Cole.
"Gettelfinger is in a real box. It's an extremely difficult time to
deal with these negotiations."

UAW spokesman Roger Kerson said while Gettelfinger and other union
officials met with Daimler and Chrysler executives this weekend, he
was not aware of meetings with Cerberus. But he confirmed that they
are set to talk with Cerberus officials on Tuesday.

As to the impact on the upcoming negotiations, Gettelfinger told a
press conference Monday he didn't expect it to change because the
Chrysler management team will stay in place.

But Cerberus is likely to be the one giving marching orders to the
management negotiators rather than Daimler. And they'll probably be
demanding significant changes in the company's health care obligations
to its retirees, as well as other labor cost savings in terms of pay
and work rule flexibility to make Chrysler competitive once again with
nonunion automakers.

"Cerberus will play things differently from the way that the
automakers and UAW negotiations have played out in the past,"
predicted Erich Merkle, director of forecasting at IRN Inc., an auto
industry consultant serving primarily the auto parts industry. "They
have to get what they need to be remain viable. Otherwise, it's not a
matter of if they go out of business, it's a matter of when. Those
health care costs will kill them."

Chrysler's promises to its retirees and their families to provide
health care will cost the company an estimated $18 billion, according
to its most recent annual report. And the fact that Cerberus is now on
the hook for that obligation is the reason Daimler was basically
willing to pay to have someone take Chrysler off its hands, only nine
years after paying $37 billion for it.

The price tag of retiree health care at GM and Ford is even higher,
perhaps $60 billion for GM and $35 billion at Ford. One way that all
three might be able to get out from under the cost is to follow a
model established by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co (Charts, Fortune 500).
in its 2006 contract with the United Steelworkers union, in which the
company gave the union a lump sum to have the union assume those costs
into the future.

Merkle said that Cerberus could be in better shape to come up with an
estimated $10 billion down payment needed to buy out the obligations
to Chrysler retirees than cash-strapped GM or Ford might be in
attempting to come up with the bigger sum needed at those companies.

The announcement of a deal had many union members worried Monday, even
with Gettelfinger's newfound assurances.

Michele Mauder, the president of a group of assembly line workers in
Toledo that had been hoping to make a employee-led bid for Chrysler,
said that Gettelfinger was right to be concerned earlier about a
purchase by a private equity firm and wrong not to get behind the
employee-led buyout efforts, which she claimed could have raised even
more money than Cerberus to complete a deal.

"Our whole package was a much better package than theirs, but we
weren't given the opportunity to present it to the union or
DaimlerChrysler," she complained.

Mauder said that rank-and-file support for an employee buyout grew in
Toledo after one high-ranking union official, whom she would not
identify, had told a union meeting there that Cerberus planned to cut
another 30,000 jobs at Chrysler, close five plants and sell the Jeep
brand if it were successful in buying the company.

Kerson said he was not aware of those plans, and a spokeswoman for
Cerberus could not comment on plans beyond the public statements

 

WRONG- actually it's the UAW that is going to have to make
concessions, to keep their jobs

now, go back to gurgling in your shitwater

DESERTBOB (not its real name) is a troll.
It regularly frequents at least twenty news groups,
including many rabid/sex/racist/liberal idiot/wannabee mechanic
groups.
Normally, it starts off with reasonable, even witty lines,
but rapidly drifts into lies, abuse and stupidity.
It had 2 Ebay usernames, both banned due to abuse, auction
interference, and harassment- they were VOXPOPPER and XCALIBER44- see
them here- search history of VOXPOPPER to see how it left (8)
negative
feedbacks for a seller, for items that cost only a penny each !

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=voxpopper


http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=xcaliber44


It is a sad creature, deserving of pity, not anger.
Any direct response simply feeds it,
but it will go away if you ignore it.


It is also unemployed, faked an injury, so it could get fraudulent
SSI
benefits, which it now collects, instead of working- so it's
basically
sucking off the government cash cow. In reality, it worked for Bell
Telephone, and its job was axed and outsourced, due to the troll's
incompetence.


It drives a 1978 Honda- need I say more ?

 

already sold- Daimler and the UAW are taking the hit, not the
taxpayers...

 

And where Boob goes, his sock puppet follows....