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Ally Financial seldom gets mentioned when the auto bailouts are discussed. The company was formerly known as GMAC and the 17 billion dollars that taxpayers sunk into the company was crucial for the perceived success at both General Motors and Chrysler . We now learn that Ally Financial has failed a government stress test and, according to Reuters, "fared by far the worst of 19 banks examined." Years back, GMAC changed its name to Ally Financial to dissociate itself from GM. Just changing a name can not negate the fact that the $17,000,000,000 Ally Financial received from taxpayers went...

The Detroit News reports that Mitt Romney wants a reexamination of the General Motors' bankruptcy proceedings. Mr. Romney is quoted as stating, "I think it's important for us to go back and look at what happened and take apart this bankruptcy process. See to what extent the finger of politics was placed on the scales of justice and see if we can't be more fair to the people involved in this process." I agree with the sentiment, but I do have to ask, where were the Republicans on this issue over two years ago? Three years ago I served...

Did you know that there are no Volkswagen manufacturing plants in the Detroit area? Or Mercedes-Benz? Or Kia? Or Hyundai? Or BMW, for that matter? The Motor City has a well-earned reputation for having the greatest auto workers in the nation, yet honorable Michiganders largely build cars for only three companies. Apart from having their cars assembled in Michigan, it turns out that those three companies have something else in common: the United Auto Workers union (UAW). It also turns out that every other car manufacturer has something in common, too: not wanting the UAW to do to them what...

Clint Eastwoods Halftime in America Chrysler propaganda commercial is taken apart by the great one. Mark Levin.

Amid the controversy over Chrysler’s “It’s Halftime In America” Super Bowl commercial, a glaring question remains: if Chrysler is back on top and so strong, then why hasn’t it repaid taxpayers the $1.3 billion it still owes them?

Clint Eastwood says his recent Super Bowl commercial wasn’t about politics. Chrysler Group LLC aired a two-minute television commercial called “It’s Halftime in America” during Super Bowl XLVI that featured the veteran actor and director. Some pundits have argued that the tone seemed to favor the re-election of President Obama.

It is mostly unanimous that Clint Eastwood's Super Bowl ad appearance was a stirring and emotional tribute to America and Detroit. The ad was heartfelt, despite the fact that bailed out Italian-owned auto company, Chrysler, paid for it. Unless NBC offered some significant discounts to their ad rates, the ad cost Chrysler about $14 million. Considering the political nature of the ad and the fact that Chrysler vehicles were not touted in the ad, I must ask the cynical question; what's in it for Italian-owned Chrysler? Chrysler CEO, Sergio Marchionne, is a pretty smart guy. I don't think he...

Clint Eastwood and Chrysler ticked off plenty of conservatives who usually back the actor and director. The ad’s message is that everything is peachy keen now that taxpayers bailed out Chrysler for a second time. It is halftime in America, the ad said. That ticked off conservatives. Saying it is halftime in America is echoic of Ronald Reagan’s morning in America and is seen as a political ad for President Obama’s re-election. From Mark Steyn: “Do you know who owns almost 60% of Chrysler, this great American institution? Fiat! Yes, nothing could be more American than an Italian company that’s...

If you are keeping score at home it’s Chrysler $12.5 billion, NBC $12 million, with a taxpayer loss of $133 billion. Oh, and the city of Detroit is just minutes away, literally, from being more broke than Greece. Look, I’m a sucker for marketing as much as the next guy, but I have a lot of friends who were rightly outraged by Chrysler’s political ad for the auto bailout that starred Clint Eastwood and aired at halftime on NBC during the Super Bowl. It was more than just the subverted boosterism for Obama that was outrageous. There were many levels...

If Clint Eastwood narrated “The Cat in the Hat,” the words of Dr. Seuss would instantly take on a menacing authority. He could read the latest worthless United Nations condemnation of Syria and make Bashar Assad tremble. So if you’re Chrysler and want to air a propagandistic advertisement implicitly touting your government bailout as what’s best about America, Eastwood is a natural frontman. The movie tough-guy and former Republican mayor of Carmel, Calif., will make everyone take notice. He will dare you not to believe him. He will invest a sugarcoated narrative of Detroit’s comeback with every bit of his...

Following the fall out over the controversial Chrysler Super Bowl halftime ad, Clinton Eastwood spoke exclusively with O’Reilly Factor producer Ron Mitchell…"I just want to say that the spin stops with you guys, and there is no spin in that ad. On this I am certain. l am certainly not politically affiliated with Mr. Obama. It was meant to be a message about just about job growth and the spirit of America. I think all politicians will agree with it. I thought the spirit was OK....

Karl Rove sees politics written all over Clint Eastwood's new Chrysler ad and even compares it to "Chicago-style politics." "I was, frankly, offended by it," Rove said on Fox News Monday. "I'm a huge fan of Clint Eastwood, I thought it was an extremely well-done ad, but it is a sign of what happens when you have Chicago-style politics, and the President of the United States and his political minions are, in essence, using our tax dollars to buy corporate advertising and the best-wishes of the management which is benefited by getting a bunch of our money that they'll never...

The Super Bowl is televised advertising’s equivalent of the Cannes Film Festival, so White House political strategists must have been smiling when what’s generally being hailed as this year’s best spot -- the Chrysler "Halftime in America" commercial -- subtly echoed the themes of President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign.(snip)Just to ice the cake, the gritty two-minute spot featured actor/director Clint Eastwood, whose politics usually put him on the Republican side of the aisle. In the spot, Eastwood’s voice narrates an account of Detroit’s comeback and, then, when his unmistakably craggy face appears on screen, U.S. closes Syria Embassy,

Detroit - Factory workers at Chrysler are getting $1,500 profit-sharing checks next month, a sign the automaker’s turnaround is succeeding. About 26,000 union-represented workers in the U.S. should get the payments, according to Chrysler’s contract with the United Auto Workers union. The profit-sharing figure is based on an Associated Press analysis of company earnings, and the labor contract formula for profit-sharing. Chrysler would not say how much the workers will get. But the formula in its new four-year contract with the UAW shows that the checks will be about $1,500. The checks are based on Chrysler’s $2 billion operating profit

What's the value of a car used by Barack Obama? Apparently not $1 million. An eBay auction for a gray 2005 Chrysler 300C leased by Obama before he became president closed late Wednesday with no bids meeting that minimum asking price, after which the listing agent hinted that $1 million might have been too much to expect.

VIDEO 4:19 minutes NLPC Associate Fellow Mark Modica says it is time to end tax credits and subsidies for electric vehicles. He is interviewed by Neil Cavuto on the Fox Business Network on Friday, January 6. Here's a transcript: Neil Cavuto : Meanwhile, a Fox Business Alert that is going to be a topical issue, drivers paying more to fill up. But it doesn't look like they're getting fed up with the gas guzzlers. Gasoline now at its highest price ever for the start of the year. It's still rising. But look what else is rising. Sales of really big...

Chrysler Group LLC confirmed today that its new small car, the first vehicle to feature Fiat SpA (F.MI) technology, will be called the Dodge Dart. The car, in production at the automaker's assembly plant in Belvidere, Ill., will be featured in January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. With this vehicle, Chrysler will have a small-car offering in its portfolio for the first time in more than a decade. The car also will allow majority stakeholder Fiat to raise its stake in Chrysler by 5 percentage points to 58.3 percent once it is certified by the U.S....

General Motors Co. may be the largest of Detroit’s Big Three, but it is the only one to not be represented on Automobile Magazine’s ‘2012 All-Stars’ list. The magazine, which ranked the 2012 Audi 7 the best vehicle of next year, feature vehicles from Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC on the top 10 list, but left GM in the dark. Ford drove onto the list with its compact Focus, which was awarded car of the year by the magazine in 2000, and the highly-acclaimed Mustang Boss 302, which the magazine dubbed “the best Mustang ever.” January 2012 issue,...

Asian brands continue to dominate Consumer Reports' 2011 Annual Auto Survey, sweeping the top nine spots. Toyota's American brand Scion leads the pack, followed by Lexus, Acura, Mazda, Honda, and Toyota. The brands scored strong on predicted reliability tests. Of the 91 Japanese models for which Consumer Reports has sufficient data, 87 (96 percent) were rated average or better. 24 Japanese models earned the highest rating.

Chrysler is getting rid of the soccer mom staple Dodge Grand Caravan minivan, the company announced on Monday. 2013 will be the last year the Caravan is sold, despite the fact it is currently the best selling Dodge vehicle on the market. The more upscale Chrysler Town and Country minivan will continue on as the only van the company offers. Chrysler created the modern minivan in when they introduced the 1984 model year Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager models. Chrysler will replace the Dodge Grand Caravan minivan and the Dodge Avenger mid-sized sedan with a single crossover in 2013, Chrysler...