Posted on 05/28/2009 8:46:18 AM PDT by STARWISE
When people talk about the problems that have driven Chrysler to bankruptcy and General Motors to the brink thereof, they usually have in mind the companies' excessive commitments to those who build their cars: the high wages, lavish benefits and irrational work rules written into union contracts.
*snip*
Closing down dealers thus requires a big outlay of cash that produces dividends only in the long run:
It cost GM $583 million to compensate its 699 Oldsmobile dealers after it decided in 2000 to phase out the brand. That's $840,000 per. . . . *snip*
"What dealers need to do is look at the criteria Chrysler said it used and look at how you performed on those metrics," said Silverman.
Those criteria included sales volume, customer service scores, local market share and average household income in the immediate area.
But what if one of the criteria is partisan politics? Blogger Doug Ross raises that possibility:
A tipster alerted me to an interesting assertion. A cursory review by that person showed that many of the Chrysler dealers on the closing list were heavy Republican donors.
*snip*
It would also demonstrate that political intervention in private business is an invitation for the most brazen sort of corruption.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Oooooh.
Michelle malkin was all over it!!!
WSJ, this has FINALLY grown some legs. F&F had Michelle Malkin on this morning too.
This is the hallmark of Zero's govt.
cannot remember his name. Do you recall?
Well- everyone on the right is shedding light on this issue- but we still need to know the proportion of Republican dealers to Dem dealers before the cuts.
But- I wouldn’t put anything past Steve Rattner.
Never buy an Obamamobile.
Let the Chryslergate scandal begin...what did Obadopie know and when did he know it?
I think they’ll also find that a lot of the dealerships have been taken from families and passed along to minority-owned companies; I think this is part of Bambi’s reparations plan. One of the people who was awarded one of these dealerships was the founder of BET (Black Entertainment Television), who apparently is part of a company that also dabbles in car dealerships.
With the WSJ talking about this, it is no longer WorldNutDaily talking here.
All I can say is holy $&!+ batman, this thing has now got legs.....
"...The Mysterious Case of RLJ In Smith's research, one company kept popping up on the list of dealerships remaining open. The company is RLJ-McLarty-Landers, which owns six Chrysler dealerships. All six dealerships are on "the safe list."
RLJ's owners "are Steve Landers (long-time car dealer, 4th-generation dealer), Thomas "Mack" McLarty (former Chief of Staff for President Clinton), and Robert Johnson (founder of Black Entertainment Television and co-owner of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats)... McLarty campaigned for Obama in 2008, and Johnson has given countless amounts of money to Democrats over the years...."
At least freeper was all over it before Malkin. Celebrate FR!
"Joey Smith Reports:
In my analysis of the Chrysler dealers that will remain open, I came across one dealer group that stood out to me.
The company is called RLJ-McLarty-Landers, and it operates six Chrysler dealerships throughout the South. All six dealerships are safe from closing. The dealer locations are:
1. Bentonville, AR (northwest Arkansas)
2. Lee’s Summit, MO (south of Kansas City, MO)
3. Branson, MO
4. Olathe, KS (near Kansas City)
5. Bossier City, LA (near Shreveport)
6. Huntsville, AL
The interesting part is who the three main owners of the company are. The owners are Steve Landers (long-time car dealer, 4th-generation dealer), Thomas “Mack” McLarty (former Chief of Staff for President Clinton), and Robert Johnson (founder of Black Entertainment Television and co-owner of the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats).
She credited FR and a few other bloggers for this.
Obama’s banana republic
What are the Odds?
All other factors being equal, what are the odds that RLJ's dealerships would remain open while all other area dealerships would be shuttered? The approximate odds of such an occurrence can be calculated. 789 of the Chrysler's dealerships are closing, which represents 25% of the total (according to MSNBC).
Recall that Chrysler claimed that its formula for determining whether a dealership should close or not included "sales volume, customer service scores, local market share and average household income in the immediate area."
Thus, the odds that any, randomly selected, single dealership would remain open is roughly 75%. The odds that a single dealership would close is roughly 25%.
In the Bentonville, AR territory, the odds that RLJ would remain while its competition gets axed is .75 * .25 * .25 = .046875 (4.6%).
In Huntsville, AL, the odds are .75 * .25 * .25 = .046875.
In Branson, MO, .75 * .25 *.25 *.25 = .01171875.
In Lee's Summit, MO, .75 * .25 *.25 *.25 *.25 = .0029296875.
In Shreveport, LA, .75 * .25 *.75 = .140625.
Approximately the odds that I'll win American Idol. Or that you'll land two frisbees, simultaneously, on each of Barack Obama's teleprompters during one of his televised speeches.
Hello, mainstream media: anyone listening? How about you, class-action lawyers?
I heard ... she’s all over it as are
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/05/unreal-after-weeding-out-gop-linked.html
...
http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2009/05/dealergate-statistical-evidence-that.html
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