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Chrysler made more money in the last 20 years than the other two members of the Big Three.

The public doesn’t know that because for the last 9 years, Daimler has sucked off any signs of profits from Chrysler and taken them back to the fatherland.

Remember, when Daimler “merged” with Chrysler, Chrysler had over $10 billion cash on hand. That is all gone.

I know a lot of people like to bash American cars, but this is a case where Chrysler’s quality exceeded Mercedes (another fact seldom reported).

The Germans loved treating Chrysler as the bastard child of the relationship, ladling all their ills on the Americans when it was Chrysler’s profits that propped up Mercedes for most of the 9 years they were together.

Let us never forget that Daimler never allowed Chrysler to use anything from Mercedes without a charge. Daimler forced Chrysler to purchase all new equipment from European companies with ties to Daimler shareholders instead of from the best companies at the lowest cost.

Yes, it is easy to beat up Chrysler. Believe me, some of the management is completely incompetent and they are saddled with a dinosaur union. However, Chrysler has produced some of the most innovative vehicles in the last 20 years and has risen from the ashes before.

Watch Chrysler Corporation LLC rise again.

What Daimler gains from the deal is closing the door on ongoing losses and liability for future health care costs, for Chrysler's unionized employees and retirees, estimated to be as high as $18 billion.

Unbridled socialism ruins yet another great business by mutating it into a health maintenance organization. America needs to find a path back to Nash Motor's ideal of "Giving the customer more than he has paid for".

Love it or hate it, Chrysler's PT Cruiser seems like a hit IMHO.

“ladling all their ills on the Americans when it was Chrysler’s profits that propped up Mercedes for most of the 9 years they were together”

A fact missed by 90+% of the press and people around boards like this. Chrysler is losing money now and Mercedes making a little, but most of the time it was Mercedes hemorraging cash and Chrysler propping it up. That’s gratitude.

Same thing is happening at Ford, really - for many years, Ford of Europe was the pits, turning in consistent $600 million operating losses while North America propped up the business. Now North America is turning in $600 million operating losses and getting subsidized by hefty profits from Europe, South America, and Mazda.