After all, why else would I be SPAMMED with a message like this one, offering me a cheapo $2,500 gift voucher on any flight greater than $15,000 . . .?
Kind of funny to be spammed by someone asking me to rent 25 hours of a GULFSTREAM IV for $299,500 plus tax!!!
To all my friends and valued fliers,
First off I would like to thank you for taking the time out to review this information. Our companies prices are highly competitive, we pride ourselves in providing some of the lowest rates on some of the most luxurious aircraft flying the skies today. Concord Private Jets is not your average jet charter broker. Moreover we are a first class fleet management company with exclusive access to only the finest and safest aircraft in the world. We do not hunt around for the cheapest available aircraft from a large charter pool of thousands of subpar aircraft in order to increase profit margins; like most traditional jet brokers do. Instead we are extremely selective in aligning ourselves with only the best aircraft flying the skies today and in turn bring that luxury and quality to you. Our philosophy is to provide you with a superior service on a quality product at a low margin. We in turn profit on large volume instead.
25 HOUR FLEET ACCESS MEMBERSHIP CARD PROGRAM
HAWKER 400XP $114,500 plus tax
HAWKER 1000 $159,500 plus tax
CITATION X $209,500 plus tax
GULFSTREAM IV $299,500 plus tax
CHALLENGER 600 $212,500 plus tax
COMBINATION CARDS AVAILABLE ON ANY AIRCRAFT ABOVE
As you can see our program is brought to you at incredible price points with absolutely no additional costs (no fuel surcharges, dead head charges, additional overnights, repositioning or taxi-time). An all-inclusive price that truly is all-inclusive. It’s that simple; it's what you deserve!
Not ready to purchase 25 hours on an aircraft? Try us before you buy us. The access that we have to premiere, company owned fleets allow us to specialize in on-demand or one-time charters as well. We will always provide the safest and most luxurious aircraft for your journey 24 hours a day / 365 days a year yet do so at a fraction of what it would cost elsewhere. As a matter of fact we will price guarantee any flight!! Send us a copy of your competitive quote and we will beat it no matter what!
We have aligned ourselves with the Travel Group, a representative of American Express, one of the biggest names in the travel industry today. Our Travel Group agents are available 24/7 and are committed to providing you with the maximum travel service. Whether you are looking for the finest five star hotel or a secluded villa hide-a-way, no request is beyond their reach. By joining forces, Concord Private Jets and American Express / Travel Group will help you to insure your flights and provide you with an option to cancel for business reasons and receive a full refund. The Travel Group can also help you with American Express Platinum or Centurion Card travel reservations and the conversion of American Express Membership Rewards Points for hotel and car reservations. A $150 Gift Cheque is offered for a first-time reservation of $4,000 or higher. For details on accommodations please contact Natalya Hansen at (646) 236-9379.
If you haven’t already flown with us, I invite you to sample our services with a $2,500 gift voucher on any flight greater than $15,000 and take advantage of our premier private aviation services (please use code:ALLYB2115 to redeem by February 28, 2009 .). We are here 24/7 to answer any questions that you may have.
With warm regards,
Frank Schiavone
Vice-President
Concord Private Jets, Inc.
401 Broadway
21st Floor
New York, NY 10013
Direct (646) 961-4457
Mobile (347) 551-3136
Fax (347) 402-0290
fschiavone@cpjets.com
www.cpjets.com
Friday, January 30, 2009
Damage Control by Dezenhall?
When it comes to corporate damage control, Dezenhall Communication advocates "playing nice only invites aggression, and why hitting hard and first is better."
Right now, Dezenhall is busy reading the "Peter Rost for FDA Commissioner" blog.
Damage Control: Why Everything You Know About Crisis Management is Wrong
How did Hewlett Packard survive their scandal, while Arthur Andersen was vindicated only after it was too late? How did Martha Stewart save her career and her company from charges, while Dan Rather was deposed? Why did Microsoft survive its anti-trust battle while Wal-Mart bashing has become a favorite American pastime?
Right now, Dezenhall is busy reading the "Peter Rost for FDA Commissioner" blog.
Damage Control: Why Everything You Know About Crisis Management is Wrong
How did Hewlett Packard survive their scandal, while Arthur Andersen was vindicated only after it was too late? How did Martha Stewart save her career and her company from charges, while Dan Rather was deposed? Why did Microsoft survive its anti-trust battle while Wal-Mart bashing has become a favorite American pastime?
There's one difference. Some companies and public figures pay a price by wishfully believing in make-nice spin and old-school reputation management. Others survive high-stakes scandals unscathed by applying the new rules of hit-back crisis management.
Called a "master of disaster" by the Chicago Tribune and "one of the PR industry's premier practitioners of 'crisis management'" by The Washington Post, Eric Dezenhall, and his colleague John Weber, have helped countless companies and politicians get out of trouble with a controversial strategy that breaks all the rules of crisis management. Their book DAMAGE CONTROL: Why Everything You Know About Crisis Management is Wrong (Portfolio; April 2007; $24.95) exposes the harsh reality of what it takes to come out alive and on top in today's era of scandal. With a shrewd and contrarian understanding of human nature, Dezenhall and Weber explain:
-Why the Tylenol scare should NOT be upheld as a model of crisis management
-Why crisis management shouldn't rely on spin or PR people
-Why product recalls and public apologies rarely solve perception problems
-Why playing nice only invites aggression, and why hitting hard and first is better
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Twenty Things You Should Know About Corporate Crime
Number 20
Corporate crime inflicts far more damage on society than all street crime combined.
Whether in bodies or injuries or dollars lost, corporate crime and violence wins by a landslide.
The FBI estimates, for example, that burglary and robbery – street crimes – costs the nation $3.8 billion a year.
The losses from a handful of major corporate frauds – Tyco, Adelphia, Worldcom, Enron – swamp the losses from all street robberies and burglaries combined.
Health care fraud alone costs Americans $100 billion to $400 billion a year.
The savings and loan fraud – which former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh called "the biggest white collar swindle in history" – cost us anywhere from $300 billion to $500 billion.
And then you have your lesser frauds: auto repair fraud, $40 billion a year, securities fraud, $15 billion a year – and on down the list.
Number 19
Corporate crime is often violent crime.
Recite this list of corporate frauds and people will immediately say to you: but you can't compare street crime and corporate crime – corporate crime is not violent crime.
Not true.
Corporate crime is often violent crime.
The FBI estimates that, 16,000 Americans are murdered every year.
Compare this to the 56,000 Americans who die every year on the job or from occupational diseases such as black lung and asbestosis and the tens of thousands of other Americans who fall victim to the silent violence of pollution, contaminated foods, hazardous consumer products, and hospital malpractice.
These deaths are often the result of criminal recklessness. Yet, they are rarely prosecuted as homicides or as criminal violations of federal laws.
Number 18
Corporate criminals are the only criminal class in the United States that have the power to define the laws under which they live.
The mafia, no.
The gangstas, no.
The street thugs, no.
But the corporate criminal lobby, yes. They have marinated Washington – from the White House to the Congress to K Street – with their largesse. And out the other end come the laws they can live with. They still violate their own rules with impunity. But they make sure the laws are kept within reasonable bounds.
Exhibit A – the automobile industry.
Over the past 30 years, the industry has worked its will on Congress to block legislation that would impose criminal sanctions on knowing and willful violations of the federal auto safety laws. Today, with very narrow exceptions, if an auto company is caught violating the law, only a civil fine is imposed.
Number 17
Corporate crime is underprosecuted by a factor of say – 100. And the flip side of that – corporate crime prosecutors are underfunded by a factor of say – 100.
Big companies that are criminally prosecuted represent only the tip of a very large iceberg of corporate wrongdoing.
For every company convicted of health care fraud, there are hundreds of others who get away with ripping off Medicare and Medicaid, or face only mild slap-on-the-wrist fines and civil penalties when caught.
For every company convicted of polluting the nation's waterways, there are many others who are not prosecuted because their corporate defense lawyers are able to offer up a low-level employee to go to jail in exchange for a promise from prosecutors not to touch the company or high-level executives.
For every corporation convicted of bribery or of giving money directly to a public official in violation of federal law, there are thousands who give money legally through political action committees to candidates and political parties. They profit from a system that effectively has legalized bribery.
For every corporation convicted of selling illegal pesticides, there are hundreds more who are not prosecuted because their lobbyists have worked their way in Washington to ensure that dangerous pesticides remain legal.
For every corporation convicted of reckless homicide in the death of a worker, there are hundreds of others that don't even get investigated for reckless homicide when a worker is killed on the job. Only a few district attorneys across the country have historically investigated workplace deaths as homicides.
Corporate crime prosecutors are underfunded by a factor of say – 100.
White collar crime defense attorneys regularly admit that if more prosecutors had more resources, the number of corporate crime prosecutions would increase dramatically. A large number of serious corporate and white collar crime cases are now left on the table for lack of resources.
Number 16
Beware of consumer groups or other public interest groups who make nice with corporations.
There are now probably more fake public interest groups than actual ones in America today. And many formerly legitimate public interest groups have been taken over or compromised by big corporations. Our favorite example is the National Consumer League. It’s the oldest consumer group in the country. It was created to eradicate child labor.
But in the last ten years or so, it has been taken over by large corporations. It now gets the majority of its budget from big corporations such as Pfizer, Bank of America, Pharmacia & Upjohn, Kaiser Permanente, Wyeth-Ayerst, and Verizon.
Number 15
It used to be when a corporation committed a crime, they pled guilty to a crime.
So, for example, so many large corporations were pleading guilty to crimes in the 1990s, that in 2000, we put out a report titled The Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the 1990s. We went back through all of the Corporate Crime Reporters for that decade, pulled out all of the big corporations that had been convicted, ranked the corporate criminals by the amount of their criminal fines, and cut it off at 100.
So, you have your Fortune 500, your Forbes 400, and your Corporate Crime Reporter 100.
Number 14
Now, corporate criminals don’t have to worry about pleading guilty to crimes.
Three new loopholes have developed over the past five years – the deferred prosecution agreement, the non prosecution agreement, and pleading guilty a closet entity or a defunct entity that has nothing to lose.
Number 13
Corporations love deferred prosecution agreements.
In the 1990s, if prosecutors had evidence of a crime, they would bring a criminal charge against the corporation and sometimes against the individual executives. And the company would end up pleading guilty.
Then, about three years ago, the Justice Department said – hey, there is this thing called a deferred prosecution agreement.
We can bring a criminal charge against the company. And we will tell the company – if you are a good company and do not violate the law for the next two years, we will drop the charges. No harm, no foul. This is called a deferred prosecution agreement.
And most major corporate crime prosecutions are brought this way now. The company pays a fine. The company is charged with a crime. But there is no conviction. And after two or three years, depending on the term of the agreement, the charges are dropped.
Number 12
Corporations love non prosecution agreements even more.
One Friday evening last July, I was sitting my office in the National Press Building. And into my e-mail box came a press release from the Justice Department.
The press release announced that Boeing will pay a $50 million criminal penalty and $615 million in civil penalties to resolve federal claims relating to the company's hiring of the former Air Force acquisitions chief Darleen A. Druyun, by its then CFO, Michael Sears – and stealing sensitive procurement information.
So, the company pays a criminal penalty. And I figure, okay if they paid a criminal penalty, they must have pled guilty.
No, they did not plead guilty.
Okay, they must have been charged with a crime and had the prosecution deferred.
No, they were not charged with a crime and did not have the prosecution deferred.
About a week later, after pounding the Justice Department for an answer as to what happened to Boeing, they sent over something called a non prosecution agreement.
That is where the Justice Department says – we’re going to fine you criminally, but hey, we don’t want to cost you any government business, so sign this agreement. It says we won’t prosecute you if you pay the fine and change your ways.
Corporate criminals love non prosecution agreements. No criminal charge. No criminal record. No guilty plea. Just pay the fine and leave.
Number 11
In health fraud cases, find an empty closet or defunct entity to plead guilty.
The government has a mandatory exclusion rule for health care corporations that are convicted of ripping off Medicare.
Such an exclusion is the equivalent of the death penalty. If a major drug company can’t do business with Medicare, it loses a big chunk of its business. There have been many criminal prosecutions of major health care corporations for ripping off Medicare. And many of these companies have pled guilty. But not one major health care company has been excluded from Medicare.
Why not?
Because when you read in the newspaper that a major health care company pled guilty, it’s not the parent company that pleads guilty. The prosecutor will allow a unit of the corporation that has no assets – or even a defunct entity – to plead guilty. And therefore that unit will be excluded from Medicare – which doesn’t bother the parent corporation, because the unit had no business with Medicare to begin with.
Earlier, Dr. Sidney Wolfe was here and talked about the criminal prosecution of Purdue Pharma, the Stamford, Connecticut-based maker of OxyContin.
Dr. Wolfe said that the company pled guilty to pushing OxyContin by making claims that it is less addictive and less subject to abuse than other pain medications and that it continued to do so despite warnings to the contrary from doctors, the media, and members of its own sales force.
Well, Purdue Pharma – the company that makes and markets the drug – didn’t plead guilty. A different company – Purdue Frederick pled guilty. Purdue Pharma actually got a non-prosecution agreement. Purdue Frederick had nothing to lose, so it pled guilty.
Number 10
Corporate criminals don’t like to be put on probation.
Very rarely, a corporation convicted of a crime will be placed on probation. Many years ago, Consolidated Edison in New York was convicted of an environmental crime. A probation official was assigned. Employees would call him with wrongdoing. He would write reports for the judge. The company changed its ways. There was actual change within the corporation.
Corporations hate this. They hate being under the supervision of some public official, like a judge.
We need more corporate probation.
Number 9
Corporate criminals don’t like to be charged with homicide.
Street murders occur every day in America. And they are prosecuted every day in America. Corporate homicides occur every day in America. But they are rarely prosecuted.
The last homicide prosecution brought against a major American corporation was in 1980, when a Republican Indiana prosecutor charged Ford Motor Co. with homicide for the deaths of three teenaged girls who died when their Ford Pinto caught on fire after being rear-ended in northern Indiana.
The prosecutor alleged that Ford knew that it was marketing a defective product, with a gas tank that crushed when rear ended, spilling fuel.
In the Indiana case, the girls were incinerated to death.
But Ford brought in a hot shot criminal defense lawyer who in turn hired the best friend of the judge as local counsel, and who, as a result, secured a not guilty verdict after persuading the judge to keep key evidence out of the jury room.
It’s time to crank up the corporate homicide prosecutions.
Number 8
There are very few career prosecutors of corporate crime.
Patrick Fitzgerald is one that comes to mind. He’s the U.S. Attorney in Chicago. He put away Scooter Libby. And he’s now prosecuting the Canadian media baron Conrad Black.
Number 7
Most corporate crime prosecutors see their jobs as a stepping stone to greater things.
Spitzer and Giuliani prosecuted corporate crime as a way to move up the political ladder. But most young prosecutors prosecute corporate crime to move into the lucrative corporate crime defense bar.
Number 6
Most corporate criminals turn themselves into the authorities.
The vast majority of corporate criminal prosecutions are now driven by the corporations themselves. If they find something wrong, they know they can trust the prosecutor to do the right thing. They will be forced to pay a fine, maybe agree to make some internal changes.
But in this day and age, in all likelihood, they will not be forced to plead guilty.
So, better to be up front with the prosecutor and put the matter behind them. To save the hide of the corporation, they will cooperate with federal prosecutors against individual executives within the company. Individuals will be charged, the corporation will not.
Number 5
The market doesn’t take most modern corporate criminal prosecutions seriously.
Almost universally, when a corporate crime case is settled, the stock of the company involved goes up.
Why? Because a cloud has been cleared and there is no serious consequence to the company. No structural changes in how the company does business. No monitor. No probation. Preserving corporate reputation is the name of the game.
Number 4
The Justice Department needs to start publishing an annual Corporate Crime in the United States report.
Every year, the Justice Department puts out an annual report titled "Crime in the United States."
But by "Crime in the United States," the Justice Department means "street crime in the United States."
In the "Crime in the United States" annual report, you can read about burglary, robbery and theft.
There is little or nothing about price-fixing, corporate fraud, pollution, or public corruption.
A yearly Justice Department report on Corporate Crime in the United States is long overdue.
Number 3
We must start asking – which side are you on – with the corporate criminals or against?
Most professionals in Washington work for, are paid by, or are under the control of the corporate crime lobby. Young lawyers come to town, fresh out of law school, 25 years old, and their starting salary is $160,000 a year. And they’re working for the corporate criminals.
Young lawyers graduating from the top law schools have all kinds of excuses for working for the corporate criminals – huge debt, just going to stay a couple of years for the experience.
But the reality is, they are working for the corporate criminals.
What kind of respect should we give them? Especially since they have many options other than working for the corporate criminals.
Time to dust off that age-old question – which side are you on? (For young lawyers out there considering other options, check out Alan Morrison’s new book – Beyond the Big Firm: Profiles of Lawyers Who Want Something More.)
Number 2
We need a 911 number for the American people to dial to report corporate crime and violence.
If you want to report street crime and violence, call 911.
But what number do you call if you want to report corporate crime and violence?
We propose 611.
Call 611 to report corporate crime and violence.
We need a national number where people can pick up the phone and report the corporate criminals in our midst.
What triggered this thought?
We attended the press conference at the Justice Department the other day announcing the indictment of Congressman William Jefferson (D-Louisiana).
Jefferson was the first U.S. official charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Federal officials alleged that Jefferson was both on the giving and receiving ends of bribe payments.
On the receiving end, he took $100,000 in cash – $90,000 of it was stuffed into his freezer in Washington, D.C.
The $90,000 was separated in $10,000 increments, wrapped in aluminum foil, and concealed inside various frozen food containers.
At the press conference announcing the indictment, after various federal officials made their case before the cameras, up to the mike came Joe Persichini, assistant director of the Washington field office of the FBI.
“To the American people, I ask you, take time,” Persichini said. “Read this charging document line by line, scheme by scheme, count by count. This case is about greed, power and arrogance.”
“Everyone is entitled to honest and ethical public service,” Persichini continued. “We as leaders standing here today cannot do it alone. We need the public's help. The amount of corruption is dependent on what the public with allow.
Again, the amount of corruption is dependent on what the public will allow.”
“If you have knowledge of, if you've been confronted with or you are participating, I ask that you contact your local FBI office or you call the Washington Field Office of the FBI at 202.278.2000. Thank you very much.”
Shorten the number – make it 611.
Number one.
And the number one thing you should know about corporate crime?
Everyone is deserving of justice. So, question, debate, strategize, yes.
But if God-forbid you too are victimized by a corporate criminal, you too will demand justice.
We need a more beefed up, more effective justice system to deal with the corporate criminals in our midst.
Thank you.
(This is the text of a speech delivered by Russell Mokhiber, editor of Corporate Crime Reporter to the Taming the Giant Corporation conference in Washington, D.C., June 9, 2007.)
Corporate crime inflicts far more damage on society than all street crime combined.
Whether in bodies or injuries or dollars lost, corporate crime and violence wins by a landslide.
The FBI estimates, for example, that burglary and robbery – street crimes – costs the nation $3.8 billion a year.
The losses from a handful of major corporate frauds – Tyco, Adelphia, Worldcom, Enron – swamp the losses from all street robberies and burglaries combined.
Health care fraud alone costs Americans $100 billion to $400 billion a year.
The savings and loan fraud – which former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh called "the biggest white collar swindle in history" – cost us anywhere from $300 billion to $500 billion.
And then you have your lesser frauds: auto repair fraud, $40 billion a year, securities fraud, $15 billion a year – and on down the list.
Number 19
Corporate crime is often violent crime.
Recite this list of corporate frauds and people will immediately say to you: but you can't compare street crime and corporate crime – corporate crime is not violent crime.
Not true.
Corporate crime is often violent crime.
The FBI estimates that, 16,000 Americans are murdered every year.
Compare this to the 56,000 Americans who die every year on the job or from occupational diseases such as black lung and asbestosis and the tens of thousands of other Americans who fall victim to the silent violence of pollution, contaminated foods, hazardous consumer products, and hospital malpractice.
These deaths are often the result of criminal recklessness. Yet, they are rarely prosecuted as homicides or as criminal violations of federal laws.
Number 18
Corporate criminals are the only criminal class in the United States that have the power to define the laws under which they live.
The mafia, no.
The gangstas, no.
The street thugs, no.
But the corporate criminal lobby, yes. They have marinated Washington – from the White House to the Congress to K Street – with their largesse. And out the other end come the laws they can live with. They still violate their own rules with impunity. But they make sure the laws are kept within reasonable bounds.
Exhibit A – the automobile industry.
Over the past 30 years, the industry has worked its will on Congress to block legislation that would impose criminal sanctions on knowing and willful violations of the federal auto safety laws. Today, with very narrow exceptions, if an auto company is caught violating the law, only a civil fine is imposed.
Number 17
Corporate crime is underprosecuted by a factor of say – 100. And the flip side of that – corporate crime prosecutors are underfunded by a factor of say – 100.
Big companies that are criminally prosecuted represent only the tip of a very large iceberg of corporate wrongdoing.
For every company convicted of health care fraud, there are hundreds of others who get away with ripping off Medicare and Medicaid, or face only mild slap-on-the-wrist fines and civil penalties when caught.
For every company convicted of polluting the nation's waterways, there are many others who are not prosecuted because their corporate defense lawyers are able to offer up a low-level employee to go to jail in exchange for a promise from prosecutors not to touch the company or high-level executives.
For every corporation convicted of bribery or of giving money directly to a public official in violation of federal law, there are thousands who give money legally through political action committees to candidates and political parties. They profit from a system that effectively has legalized bribery.
For every corporation convicted of selling illegal pesticides, there are hundreds more who are not prosecuted because their lobbyists have worked their way in Washington to ensure that dangerous pesticides remain legal.
For every corporation convicted of reckless homicide in the death of a worker, there are hundreds of others that don't even get investigated for reckless homicide when a worker is killed on the job. Only a few district attorneys across the country have historically investigated workplace deaths as homicides.
Corporate crime prosecutors are underfunded by a factor of say – 100.
White collar crime defense attorneys regularly admit that if more prosecutors had more resources, the number of corporate crime prosecutions would increase dramatically. A large number of serious corporate and white collar crime cases are now left on the table for lack of resources.
Number 16
Beware of consumer groups or other public interest groups who make nice with corporations.
There are now probably more fake public interest groups than actual ones in America today. And many formerly legitimate public interest groups have been taken over or compromised by big corporations. Our favorite example is the National Consumer League. It’s the oldest consumer group in the country. It was created to eradicate child labor.
But in the last ten years or so, it has been taken over by large corporations. It now gets the majority of its budget from big corporations such as Pfizer, Bank of America, Pharmacia & Upjohn, Kaiser Permanente, Wyeth-Ayerst, and Verizon.
Number 15
It used to be when a corporation committed a crime, they pled guilty to a crime.
So, for example, so many large corporations were pleading guilty to crimes in the 1990s, that in 2000, we put out a report titled The Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the 1990s. We went back through all of the Corporate Crime Reporters for that decade, pulled out all of the big corporations that had been convicted, ranked the corporate criminals by the amount of their criminal fines, and cut it off at 100.
So, you have your Fortune 500, your Forbes 400, and your Corporate Crime Reporter 100.
Number 14
Now, corporate criminals don’t have to worry about pleading guilty to crimes.
Three new loopholes have developed over the past five years – the deferred prosecution agreement, the non prosecution agreement, and pleading guilty a closet entity or a defunct entity that has nothing to lose.
Number 13
Corporations love deferred prosecution agreements.
In the 1990s, if prosecutors had evidence of a crime, they would bring a criminal charge against the corporation and sometimes against the individual executives. And the company would end up pleading guilty.
Then, about three years ago, the Justice Department said – hey, there is this thing called a deferred prosecution agreement.
We can bring a criminal charge against the company. And we will tell the company – if you are a good company and do not violate the law for the next two years, we will drop the charges. No harm, no foul. This is called a deferred prosecution agreement.
And most major corporate crime prosecutions are brought this way now. The company pays a fine. The company is charged with a crime. But there is no conviction. And after two or three years, depending on the term of the agreement, the charges are dropped.
Number 12
Corporations love non prosecution agreements even more.
One Friday evening last July, I was sitting my office in the National Press Building. And into my e-mail box came a press release from the Justice Department.
The press release announced that Boeing will pay a $50 million criminal penalty and $615 million in civil penalties to resolve federal claims relating to the company's hiring of the former Air Force acquisitions chief Darleen A. Druyun, by its then CFO, Michael Sears – and stealing sensitive procurement information.
So, the company pays a criminal penalty. And I figure, okay if they paid a criminal penalty, they must have pled guilty.
No, they did not plead guilty.
Okay, they must have been charged with a crime and had the prosecution deferred.
No, they were not charged with a crime and did not have the prosecution deferred.
About a week later, after pounding the Justice Department for an answer as to what happened to Boeing, they sent over something called a non prosecution agreement.
That is where the Justice Department says – we’re going to fine you criminally, but hey, we don’t want to cost you any government business, so sign this agreement. It says we won’t prosecute you if you pay the fine and change your ways.
Corporate criminals love non prosecution agreements. No criminal charge. No criminal record. No guilty plea. Just pay the fine and leave.
Number 11
In health fraud cases, find an empty closet or defunct entity to plead guilty.
The government has a mandatory exclusion rule for health care corporations that are convicted of ripping off Medicare.
Such an exclusion is the equivalent of the death penalty. If a major drug company can’t do business with Medicare, it loses a big chunk of its business. There have been many criminal prosecutions of major health care corporations for ripping off Medicare. And many of these companies have pled guilty. But not one major health care company has been excluded from Medicare.
Why not?
Because when you read in the newspaper that a major health care company pled guilty, it’s not the parent company that pleads guilty. The prosecutor will allow a unit of the corporation that has no assets – or even a defunct entity – to plead guilty. And therefore that unit will be excluded from Medicare – which doesn’t bother the parent corporation, because the unit had no business with Medicare to begin with.
Earlier, Dr. Sidney Wolfe was here and talked about the criminal prosecution of Purdue Pharma, the Stamford, Connecticut-based maker of OxyContin.
Dr. Wolfe said that the company pled guilty to pushing OxyContin by making claims that it is less addictive and less subject to abuse than other pain medications and that it continued to do so despite warnings to the contrary from doctors, the media, and members of its own sales force.
Well, Purdue Pharma – the company that makes and markets the drug – didn’t plead guilty. A different company – Purdue Frederick pled guilty. Purdue Pharma actually got a non-prosecution agreement. Purdue Frederick had nothing to lose, so it pled guilty.
Number 10
Corporate criminals don’t like to be put on probation.
Very rarely, a corporation convicted of a crime will be placed on probation. Many years ago, Consolidated Edison in New York was convicted of an environmental crime. A probation official was assigned. Employees would call him with wrongdoing. He would write reports for the judge. The company changed its ways. There was actual change within the corporation.
Corporations hate this. They hate being under the supervision of some public official, like a judge.
We need more corporate probation.
Number 9
Corporate criminals don’t like to be charged with homicide.
Street murders occur every day in America. And they are prosecuted every day in America. Corporate homicides occur every day in America. But they are rarely prosecuted.
The last homicide prosecution brought against a major American corporation was in 1980, when a Republican Indiana prosecutor charged Ford Motor Co. with homicide for the deaths of three teenaged girls who died when their Ford Pinto caught on fire after being rear-ended in northern Indiana.
The prosecutor alleged that Ford knew that it was marketing a defective product, with a gas tank that crushed when rear ended, spilling fuel.
In the Indiana case, the girls were incinerated to death.
But Ford brought in a hot shot criminal defense lawyer who in turn hired the best friend of the judge as local counsel, and who, as a result, secured a not guilty verdict after persuading the judge to keep key evidence out of the jury room.
It’s time to crank up the corporate homicide prosecutions.
Number 8
There are very few career prosecutors of corporate crime.
Patrick Fitzgerald is one that comes to mind. He’s the U.S. Attorney in Chicago. He put away Scooter Libby. And he’s now prosecuting the Canadian media baron Conrad Black.
Number 7
Most corporate crime prosecutors see their jobs as a stepping stone to greater things.
Spitzer and Giuliani prosecuted corporate crime as a way to move up the political ladder. But most young prosecutors prosecute corporate crime to move into the lucrative corporate crime defense bar.
Number 6
Most corporate criminals turn themselves into the authorities.
The vast majority of corporate criminal prosecutions are now driven by the corporations themselves. If they find something wrong, they know they can trust the prosecutor to do the right thing. They will be forced to pay a fine, maybe agree to make some internal changes.
But in this day and age, in all likelihood, they will not be forced to plead guilty.
So, better to be up front with the prosecutor and put the matter behind them. To save the hide of the corporation, they will cooperate with federal prosecutors against individual executives within the company. Individuals will be charged, the corporation will not.
Number 5
The market doesn’t take most modern corporate criminal prosecutions seriously.
Almost universally, when a corporate crime case is settled, the stock of the company involved goes up.
Why? Because a cloud has been cleared and there is no serious consequence to the company. No structural changes in how the company does business. No monitor. No probation. Preserving corporate reputation is the name of the game.
Number 4
The Justice Department needs to start publishing an annual Corporate Crime in the United States report.
Every year, the Justice Department puts out an annual report titled "Crime in the United States."
But by "Crime in the United States," the Justice Department means "street crime in the United States."
In the "Crime in the United States" annual report, you can read about burglary, robbery and theft.
There is little or nothing about price-fixing, corporate fraud, pollution, or public corruption.
A yearly Justice Department report on Corporate Crime in the United States is long overdue.
Number 3
We must start asking – which side are you on – with the corporate criminals or against?
Most professionals in Washington work for, are paid by, or are under the control of the corporate crime lobby. Young lawyers come to town, fresh out of law school, 25 years old, and their starting salary is $160,000 a year. And they’re working for the corporate criminals.
Young lawyers graduating from the top law schools have all kinds of excuses for working for the corporate criminals – huge debt, just going to stay a couple of years for the experience.
But the reality is, they are working for the corporate criminals.
What kind of respect should we give them? Especially since they have many options other than working for the corporate criminals.
Time to dust off that age-old question – which side are you on? (For young lawyers out there considering other options, check out Alan Morrison’s new book – Beyond the Big Firm: Profiles of Lawyers Who Want Something More.)
Number 2
We need a 911 number for the American people to dial to report corporate crime and violence.
If you want to report street crime and violence, call 911.
But what number do you call if you want to report corporate crime and violence?
We propose 611.
Call 611 to report corporate crime and violence.
We need a national number where people can pick up the phone and report the corporate criminals in our midst.
What triggered this thought?
We attended the press conference at the Justice Department the other day announcing the indictment of Congressman William Jefferson (D-Louisiana).
Jefferson was the first U.S. official charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Federal officials alleged that Jefferson was both on the giving and receiving ends of bribe payments.
On the receiving end, he took $100,000 in cash – $90,000 of it was stuffed into his freezer in Washington, D.C.
The $90,000 was separated in $10,000 increments, wrapped in aluminum foil, and concealed inside various frozen food containers.
At the press conference announcing the indictment, after various federal officials made their case before the cameras, up to the mike came Joe Persichini, assistant director of the Washington field office of the FBI.
“To the American people, I ask you, take time,” Persichini said. “Read this charging document line by line, scheme by scheme, count by count. This case is about greed, power and arrogance.”
“Everyone is entitled to honest and ethical public service,” Persichini continued. “We as leaders standing here today cannot do it alone. We need the public's help. The amount of corruption is dependent on what the public with allow.
Again, the amount of corruption is dependent on what the public will allow.”
“If you have knowledge of, if you've been confronted with or you are participating, I ask that you contact your local FBI office or you call the Washington Field Office of the FBI at 202.278.2000. Thank you very much.”
Shorten the number – make it 611.
Number one.
And the number one thing you should know about corporate crime?
Everyone is deserving of justice. So, question, debate, strategize, yes.
But if God-forbid you too are victimized by a corporate criminal, you too will demand justice.
We need a more beefed up, more effective justice system to deal with the corporate criminals in our midst.
Thank you.
(This is the text of a speech delivered by Russell Mokhiber, editor of Corporate Crime Reporter to the Taming the Giant Corporation conference in Washington, D.C., June 9, 2007.)
Quote of the day.
"The American banks helping to finance the deal have benefited handsomely from taxpayer bail-outs. What will Mr Kindler say if he is hauled down to Washington, DC, to explain to Congress why he is using billions of dollars borrowed from such banks to implement a deal that, as he insisted this week, will result in the swift sacking of thousands?"
The Economist
The Economist
Pfizer: Try, Try Again
Hartfourd Courant
by Dan Haar
January 29, 2009
A guy climbs up a ladder to fix his roof, falls off and breaks his leg, then does the same thing again a few years later. What are you supposed to think when he mounts the ladder a third time?
Pfizer is on that ladder, headed up to the roof again. The pharmaceutical giant is buying Wyeth for $68 billion in cash and stock, a blockbuster deal that echoes Pfizer's earlier megamergers: Warner Lambert for $93 billion in 2000 and Pharmacia for $57 billion in 2003.
Those earlier deals -- just like this one -- were designed to jump-start Pfizer's dangerously shrinking drug pipeline and to create savings from larger scale.
Each of those deals, like virtually all corporate mergers, was hailed as a match made in heaven. This time, Pfizer has a different CEO, Jeffrey Kindler, who claims he's skeptical of big mergers. As near as I can tell, he didn't utter the words, "match made in heaven."
Instead, Kindler called it a "perfect fit."
Maybe it is. Pfizer, based in New York, with its research headquarters and 5,000 people in Groton and New London, specializes in chemical-based pharmaceuticals for cancer, infectious disease, geriatrics and neurological disorders. Its $13 billion-a-year meal ticket -- best-selling Lipitor -- is a cholesterol medication, but Pfizer said it's getting out of the cardiovascular trade after Lipitor.
Wyeth has some overlap with Pfizer, but also a strong franchise in women's health, consumer products (which Pfizer recently exited) and, most important, a platform in biologic drug invention, medicines made of large, complex proteins that are hard to make but offer the most promise these days.
Great. Let's call it a perfect fix -- though the repair won't work smoothly for the 19,000 workers slated to lose their jobs of the combined companies' 129,000 total.
On the way to the merger shop, consider Pfizer's megadeal history.
Before the company overpaid for Warner Lambert in 2000, its shares peaked above $48. By the time of the Pharmacia announcement in 2002, Pfizer was trading at just over $30. Five bull market years later, when the market peaked in late 2007, the shares were at $25, and on Wednesday they closed at $15.44 amid doubts about the latest deal.
Pfizer shareholders, for the record, have no say in the Wyeth deal.
Stock prices fall for all kinds of reasons. But despite a research budget that was at $7 billion, and despite its buying sprees, Pfizer still finds itself with a pipeline too weak to support its heft -- raising questions about size and innovation.
Erik Gordon of the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business is among the experts who say it's mainly been a run of bad luck in a high-risk industry -- not necessarily bad strategy. Would-be blockbuster torcetrapib, for example, the hailed successor to Lipitor, died in late trials two years ago after Pfizer sank nearly $1 billion into it.
Beyond that, Gordon said, "I think the Wyeth thing will be handled better. You've got a smarter company with different leaders."
And so, Kindler climbs the ladder up to the roof.
by Dan Haar
January 29, 2009
A guy climbs up a ladder to fix his roof, falls off and breaks his leg, then does the same thing again a few years later. What are you supposed to think when he mounts the ladder a third time?
Pfizer is on that ladder, headed up to the roof again. The pharmaceutical giant is buying Wyeth for $68 billion in cash and stock, a blockbuster deal that echoes Pfizer's earlier megamergers: Warner Lambert for $93 billion in 2000 and Pharmacia for $57 billion in 2003.
Those earlier deals -- just like this one -- were designed to jump-start Pfizer's dangerously shrinking drug pipeline and to create savings from larger scale.
Each of those deals, like virtually all corporate mergers, was hailed as a match made in heaven. This time, Pfizer has a different CEO, Jeffrey Kindler, who claims he's skeptical of big mergers. As near as I can tell, he didn't utter the words, "match made in heaven."
Instead, Kindler called it a "perfect fit."
Maybe it is. Pfizer, based in New York, with its research headquarters and 5,000 people in Groton and New London, specializes in chemical-based pharmaceuticals for cancer, infectious disease, geriatrics and neurological disorders. Its $13 billion-a-year meal ticket -- best-selling Lipitor -- is a cholesterol medication, but Pfizer said it's getting out of the cardiovascular trade after Lipitor.
Wyeth has some overlap with Pfizer, but also a strong franchise in women's health, consumer products (which Pfizer recently exited) and, most important, a platform in biologic drug invention, medicines made of large, complex proteins that are hard to make but offer the most promise these days.
Great. Let's call it a perfect fix -- though the repair won't work smoothly for the 19,000 workers slated to lose their jobs of the combined companies' 129,000 total.
On the way to the merger shop, consider Pfizer's megadeal history.
Before the company overpaid for Warner Lambert in 2000, its shares peaked above $48. By the time of the Pharmacia announcement in 2002, Pfizer was trading at just over $30. Five bull market years later, when the market peaked in late 2007, the shares were at $25, and on Wednesday they closed at $15.44 amid doubts about the latest deal.
Pfizer shareholders, for the record, have no say in the Wyeth deal.
Stock prices fall for all kinds of reasons. But despite a research budget that was at $7 billion, and despite its buying sprees, Pfizer still finds itself with a pipeline too weak to support its heft -- raising questions about size and innovation.
Erik Gordon of the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business is among the experts who say it's mainly been a run of bad luck in a high-risk industry -- not necessarily bad strategy. Would-be blockbuster torcetrapib, for example, the hailed successor to Lipitor, died in late trials two years ago after Pfizer sank nearly $1 billion into it.
Beyond that, Gordon said, "I think the Wyeth thing will be handled better. You've got a smarter company with different leaders."
And so, Kindler climbs the ladder up to the roof.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Letter from a Pfizer employee to Wyeth employees.
As a 20 year Pfizer employee, I've seen my company go from the best place to work in the industry to one of (if not) the worst. We had 20% layoffs in 2005 (FFO). At the 2006 Exubera launch (hah!) in San Francisco, the VP for US sales stood up and said "FFO is F-F-Over". 2 weeks later the CEO (also in attendance) was canned, Jeff "The Hatchet Man" Kindler was brought in, and 5 months later we were getting phone calls informing us of our job status (retained or Pfired - 30% were canned including unfilled vacancies). Those cuts (called FFT) were finalized less than 2 years ago (April 2007), and now we're cutting another 50%. We get the call this Friday. This one is called F-F-U, because they actually want us to go out and work that day.
And for those who are retained, we're getting electronic babysitters (computers with signature time stamps), and you can bet your butt every new GM in each new Business Unit will be riding RM/DM butt to ensure that their signature numbers look the best (daily average, average time of first/last call, number of computer detail pages viewed per call, etc). This place has got to be the worst place to work in the industry. But then again, we'll be going through another round of layoffs as soon as Wyeth is devoured. I'm sure it will hit reps in both companies hard. I look for another 50-75% reduction in sales, with a severance package that will be far less generous than our current agreement (which expires June 1, 2009... 2 month WARN, 3 months pay + 3 weeks for every year with the company up to a maximum of 2 years).
I feel sorry for the good people of Wyeth. You didn't ask to be gobbled up by this monster. As for myself, I was just to lazy/stupid/complacent to leave. I got caught up remembering all the good times, and I forgot that they pretty much ended 10 years ago.
Best wishes to all of you, and please accept my hearfelt apologies.
And for those who are retained, we're getting electronic babysitters (computers with signature time stamps), and you can bet your butt every new GM in each new Business Unit will be riding RM/DM butt to ensure that their signature numbers look the best (daily average, average time of first/last call, number of computer detail pages viewed per call, etc). This place has got to be the worst place to work in the industry. But then again, we'll be going through another round of layoffs as soon as Wyeth is devoured. I'm sure it will hit reps in both companies hard. I look for another 50-75% reduction in sales, with a severance package that will be far less generous than our current agreement (which expires June 1, 2009... 2 month WARN, 3 months pay + 3 weeks for every year with the company up to a maximum of 2 years).
I feel sorry for the good people of Wyeth. You didn't ask to be gobbled up by this monster. As for myself, I was just to lazy/stupid/complacent to leave. I got caught up remembering all the good times, and I forgot that they pretty much ended 10 years ago.
Best wishes to all of you, and please accept my hearfelt apologies.
Monday, January 26, 2009
"Everyone in the industry has 20% earnings growth, but they're making their earnings by cutting expenses. That's a death spiral."
Bill Steere, former Pfizer CEO, 1999.
All of a sudden pundits "love" the Pfizer-Wyeth deal . . .
Many of them hated the deal last week.
See for example 5 Reasons Pfizer Shouldn't Buy Wyeth or Fortune writer, John Simons who penned the article, “Why a Pfizer-Wyeth merger is a bad idea.”
Funny what a difference a weekend can make.
See for example 5 Reasons Pfizer Shouldn't Buy Wyeth or Fortune writer, John Simons who penned the article, “Why a Pfizer-Wyeth merger is a bad idea.”
Funny what a difference a weekend can make.
Pfizer to pay biggest fine in drug company history: $2.3 billion
Guess this was forgotten in all the hustle about buying Wyeth (and well planned by Pfizer public relations):
Pfizer U.S. reported revenues were $5.3 billion in fourth-quarter 2008, an amazing decrease of 8% compared with the year-ago quarter.
Pfizer also took a $2.3 billion pre-tax and after-tax charge resulting from an agreement in principle with the Office of Michael Sullivan, the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, to resolve investigations regarding allegations of past off-label promotional practices concerning Bextra, as well as other open investigations.
Pfizer U.S. reported revenues were $5.3 billion in fourth-quarter 2008, an amazing decrease of 8% compared with the year-ago quarter.
Pfizer also took a $2.3 billion pre-tax and after-tax charge resulting from an agreement in principle with the Office of Michael Sullivan, the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, to resolve investigations regarding allegations of past off-label promotional practices concerning Bextra, as well as other open investigations.
Pfizer Agrees to Pay $68 Billion for Rival Wyeth
Pfizer Agrees to Pay $68 Billion for Rival Wyeth
By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN and DUFF WILSON NY TIMES
The board of Pfizer, the world’s largest drug maker, agreed to acquire a rival, Wyeth, for $68 billion, the companies announced Monday.
The deal not only create a pharmaceutical behemoth but would be a rarity in the current financial tumult: a big acquisition that is not a desperate merger of two banks orchestrated by the government.
It will also be the first big merger backed by Wall Street in months. While credit has been notoriously tight of late, five banks have agreed to lend Pfizer $22.5 billion to pay for the deal. Pfizer, which has roughly $26 billion in cash, would finance the remainder through a combination of cash and stock.
If completed as planned, the transaction would be the biggest merger since AT&T and BellSouth combined in a $70 billion deal in March 2006, according to the research firm Capital IQ.
Pfizer also said Monday that its net income for the fourth quarter dropped 90 percent from the period a year ago, citing a charge to resolve inquires into its off-label promotional practices. In its statement, it also said that it planned to its work force by about 10 percent and reduce the number of manufacturing sites. The company also said that it would cut its dividend.
Pfizer earned $268 million, or 4 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, down from $2.72 billion, or 40 cents a share, in the period a year ago. Revenue dropped 4 percent, to $12.35 billion. Excluding the $2.3 billion to settle the marketing inquiry, Pfizer had a profit of 65 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecast 59 cents.
“The combination of Pfizer and Wyeth will meaningfully deliver Pfizer’s strategic priorities in a single transaction,” the Pfizer’s chief executive, Jeffrey B. Kindler, said in a statement Monday. “Our combined company will be one of the most diversified in the industry and will benefit from complementary patient-centric units that match speed with the benefits of a global company’s scale and resources.”
The merger almost came unhinged at the 11th hour. While the boards of both companies agreed to the broad outlines of the deal and its price before the weekend, these people said, one issue was still a sticking point: whether Pfizer would be allowed to back out of the deal if the economy worsened or Wyeth’s prospects faded.
In better times, deals often falter on matters of strategy or price. But in this case, because of the ailing economy, Pfizer has agreed to pay a staggering breakup fee, $4.5 billion, if it does not complete the deal under certain circumstances — if, for example, its credit rating drops and it can no longer finance the deal. That is almost twice the typical breakup fee for a deal of this size.
If the acquisition is completed, it may demonstrate that Wall Street is willing to lend again, at least to the nation’s top companies with the best credit ratings.
“If banks need to send a message that they’re loaning, they want to be loaning to this quality of company,” said Catherine Arnold, an analyst at Credit Suisse.
Pfizer’s bid is being financed by four banks that received federal bailout money: Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America, the people involved in the deal said. Such banks have been criticized for not doing more lending since they received the government aid.
Barclays, which acquired Lehman Brothers out of bankruptcy in the fall, is also providing financing, these people said.
Pfizer appears to be taking advantage of the bad market for credit to buy Wyeth at a lower price than it might fetch if competing bids were to emerge, which analysts do not expect.
“They have a unique opportunity now because not everybody can get that capital,” said Barbara Ryan, an analyst at Deutsche Bank.
Because the combined company is expected to generate more than $20 billion in cash a year, Ms. Ryan said, “even when they borrow money, they will still have plenty of revenue.”
Under the terms of the deal, Pfizer would pay $50.19 a share for the company — $33 a share in cash and 0.985 Pfizer shares worth $17.19 a share based on Pfizer’s closing price on Friday. That is roughly a 29 percent premium over the share price before word of the deal leaked on Friday.
Both companies’ boards of directors approved the deal.
Wyeth’s management team would depart, the people involved in the negotiations said. Pfizer is also planning to cut its quarterly dividend in half to 16 cents, these people said, in an effort to maintain its credit rating.
After news reports disclosed the talks on Friday, investors applauded the possibility of a deal. Shares of Wyeth rose $4.91, or 12.6 percent, to close at $43.74. Pfizer climbed 24 cents, or 1.4 percent, to close at $17.45.
Pfizer expects to save $4 billion annually by combining with Wyeth; those savings will be phased in over three years.
Mr. Kindler of Pfizer, first approached Wyeth last spring with a phone call, people involved in the talks said. The negotiations heated up in the summer but appeared to collapse when the banking system went into a tailspin in September and October.
Since then, there were several brief moments when it appeared the deal would move ahead, but then the talks would fall apart once again, usually over financing, these people said. It was apparently only within the last week or so that the financing commitment came together.
For Mr. Kindler, a lawyer who came to Pfizer from McDonald’s, the deal may be a job-saver. His and the company’s most pressing challenge has been the impending expiration of patent rights to the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor — which accounted for a quarter of the company’s 2007 revenue of $48 billion and remains the best-selling drug in the world. The patent ends in 2011.
Still, even with the Wyeth deal, much would remain undone for Pfizer as it faces product, patent and pipeline problems for other drugs as well.
“It’s not just Lipitor,” Ms. Arnold wrote last year in a report to investors. Pfizer faces a run of 14 patent expirations through 2014, which would add up to lost revenue of about $35 billion as those drugs give way to cheap generics, according to Ms. Arnold. Pfizer’s patent problem is not unique among the big drug makers. Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly are all facing their own patent losses in the next five years. “Everybody’s staring at the same challenges down the road,” Ms. Ryan said.
She said that Mr. Kindler, who became chief executive in July 2006, had probably not been in a position to make a play for a company like Wyeth until after he had cut costs, revamped Pfizer’s core business and accepted the reality that the research pipeline was not producing blockbusters. “Hope springs eternal from the research pipeline,” Ms. Ryan said.
As part of the deal with Wyeth, both companies will have to repatriate tens of billions of dollars back into the United States, which could have a high tax cost. Pfizer reported $25.3 billion in revenue, 52.2 percent of its total, from overseas operations in 2007, according to securities filings.
If foreign profits were repatriated to the United States, Pfizer would have to pay the difference between the tax paid in the foreign country, as low as 5 percent in Ireland, for example, and the 35 percent tax rate in the United States.
Ms. Arnold said some tax penalties might be expected, but could be reduced by doing some of the buying and selling overseas.
“The experts that we’ve spoken to have very definitely said you can use offshore cash to buy offshore assets, and Pfizer and Wyeth both have very significant offshore subsidiaries that they place cash in,” Ms. Arnold said. For example, she said, “Pfizer Ireland can use its cash to buy Wyeth Ireland or Wyeth Singapore.”
Wyeth, with sales of about $23 billion for the 12 months that ended Sept. 30, has about $2.7 billion in cash and liquid assets, according to David S. Moskowitz, an analyst at Caris & Company, an investment bank.
Pfizer was advised by Goldman, JPMorgan and Barclays; Wyeth was advised by Morgan Stanley and Evercore Partners.
Erik Gordon, a professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan who follows biomedical industries, said Pfizer and Wyeth were a great fit that made the deal creditworthy.
First, because Pfizer has so much cash, the deal does not have to be highly leveraged with debt, Mr. Gordon said. Second, the two companies have enough overlap that they can achieve considerable saving through consolidating duplicate operations and cutting costs. And finally, parts of a combined operation could be spun off to raise money.
Mr. Gordon pointed to the animal health businesses of both companies — which, considered together, accounted for $2.8 billion in revenue and about $600 million in profit in the first nine months of 2008.
“They could sell that business for billions of dollars to either pay down the debt or service the debt,” he said. In addition, he said Pfizer could resell Wyeth’s consumer products business. He added: “This deal is the rare thing. This’ll be the only money investment bankers make in a while.”
By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN and DUFF WILSON NY TIMES
The board of Pfizer, the world’s largest drug maker, agreed to acquire a rival, Wyeth, for $68 billion, the companies announced Monday.
The deal not only create a pharmaceutical behemoth but would be a rarity in the current financial tumult: a big acquisition that is not a desperate merger of two banks orchestrated by the government.
It will also be the first big merger backed by Wall Street in months. While credit has been notoriously tight of late, five banks have agreed to lend Pfizer $22.5 billion to pay for the deal. Pfizer, which has roughly $26 billion in cash, would finance the remainder through a combination of cash and stock.
If completed as planned, the transaction would be the biggest merger since AT&T and BellSouth combined in a $70 billion deal in March 2006, according to the research firm Capital IQ.
Pfizer also said Monday that its net income for the fourth quarter dropped 90 percent from the period a year ago, citing a charge to resolve inquires into its off-label promotional practices. In its statement, it also said that it planned to its work force by about 10 percent and reduce the number of manufacturing sites. The company also said that it would cut its dividend.
Pfizer earned $268 million, or 4 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, down from $2.72 billion, or 40 cents a share, in the period a year ago. Revenue dropped 4 percent, to $12.35 billion. Excluding the $2.3 billion to settle the marketing inquiry, Pfizer had a profit of 65 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecast 59 cents.
“The combination of Pfizer and Wyeth will meaningfully deliver Pfizer’s strategic priorities in a single transaction,” the Pfizer’s chief executive, Jeffrey B. Kindler, said in a statement Monday. “Our combined company will be one of the most diversified in the industry and will benefit from complementary patient-centric units that match speed with the benefits of a global company’s scale and resources.”
The merger almost came unhinged at the 11th hour. While the boards of both companies agreed to the broad outlines of the deal and its price before the weekend, these people said, one issue was still a sticking point: whether Pfizer would be allowed to back out of the deal if the economy worsened or Wyeth’s prospects faded.
In better times, deals often falter on matters of strategy or price. But in this case, because of the ailing economy, Pfizer has agreed to pay a staggering breakup fee, $4.5 billion, if it does not complete the deal under certain circumstances — if, for example, its credit rating drops and it can no longer finance the deal. That is almost twice the typical breakup fee for a deal of this size.
If the acquisition is completed, it may demonstrate that Wall Street is willing to lend again, at least to the nation’s top companies with the best credit ratings.
“If banks need to send a message that they’re loaning, they want to be loaning to this quality of company,” said Catherine Arnold, an analyst at Credit Suisse.
Pfizer’s bid is being financed by four banks that received federal bailout money: Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America, the people involved in the deal said. Such banks have been criticized for not doing more lending since they received the government aid.
Barclays, which acquired Lehman Brothers out of bankruptcy in the fall, is also providing financing, these people said.
Pfizer appears to be taking advantage of the bad market for credit to buy Wyeth at a lower price than it might fetch if competing bids were to emerge, which analysts do not expect.
“They have a unique opportunity now because not everybody can get that capital,” said Barbara Ryan, an analyst at Deutsche Bank.
Because the combined company is expected to generate more than $20 billion in cash a year, Ms. Ryan said, “even when they borrow money, they will still have plenty of revenue.”
Under the terms of the deal, Pfizer would pay $50.19 a share for the company — $33 a share in cash and 0.985 Pfizer shares worth $17.19 a share based on Pfizer’s closing price on Friday. That is roughly a 29 percent premium over the share price before word of the deal leaked on Friday.
Both companies’ boards of directors approved the deal.
Wyeth’s management team would depart, the people involved in the negotiations said. Pfizer is also planning to cut its quarterly dividend in half to 16 cents, these people said, in an effort to maintain its credit rating.
After news reports disclosed the talks on Friday, investors applauded the possibility of a deal. Shares of Wyeth rose $4.91, or 12.6 percent, to close at $43.74. Pfizer climbed 24 cents, or 1.4 percent, to close at $17.45.
Pfizer expects to save $4 billion annually by combining with Wyeth; those savings will be phased in over three years.
Mr. Kindler of Pfizer, first approached Wyeth last spring with a phone call, people involved in the talks said. The negotiations heated up in the summer but appeared to collapse when the banking system went into a tailspin in September and October.
Since then, there were several brief moments when it appeared the deal would move ahead, but then the talks would fall apart once again, usually over financing, these people said. It was apparently only within the last week or so that the financing commitment came together.
For Mr. Kindler, a lawyer who came to Pfizer from McDonald’s, the deal may be a job-saver. His and the company’s most pressing challenge has been the impending expiration of patent rights to the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor — which accounted for a quarter of the company’s 2007 revenue of $48 billion and remains the best-selling drug in the world. The patent ends in 2011.
Still, even with the Wyeth deal, much would remain undone for Pfizer as it faces product, patent and pipeline problems for other drugs as well.
“It’s not just Lipitor,” Ms. Arnold wrote last year in a report to investors. Pfizer faces a run of 14 patent expirations through 2014, which would add up to lost revenue of about $35 billion as those drugs give way to cheap generics, according to Ms. Arnold. Pfizer’s patent problem is not unique among the big drug makers. Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly are all facing their own patent losses in the next five years. “Everybody’s staring at the same challenges down the road,” Ms. Ryan said.
She said that Mr. Kindler, who became chief executive in July 2006, had probably not been in a position to make a play for a company like Wyeth until after he had cut costs, revamped Pfizer’s core business and accepted the reality that the research pipeline was not producing blockbusters. “Hope springs eternal from the research pipeline,” Ms. Ryan said.
As part of the deal with Wyeth, both companies will have to repatriate tens of billions of dollars back into the United States, which could have a high tax cost. Pfizer reported $25.3 billion in revenue, 52.2 percent of its total, from overseas operations in 2007, according to securities filings.
If foreign profits were repatriated to the United States, Pfizer would have to pay the difference between the tax paid in the foreign country, as low as 5 percent in Ireland, for example, and the 35 percent tax rate in the United States.
Ms. Arnold said some tax penalties might be expected, but could be reduced by doing some of the buying and selling overseas.
“The experts that we’ve spoken to have very definitely said you can use offshore cash to buy offshore assets, and Pfizer and Wyeth both have very significant offshore subsidiaries that they place cash in,” Ms. Arnold said. For example, she said, “Pfizer Ireland can use its cash to buy Wyeth Ireland or Wyeth Singapore.”
Wyeth, with sales of about $23 billion for the 12 months that ended Sept. 30, has about $2.7 billion in cash and liquid assets, according to David S. Moskowitz, an analyst at Caris & Company, an investment bank.
Pfizer was advised by Goldman, JPMorgan and Barclays; Wyeth was advised by Morgan Stanley and Evercore Partners.
Erik Gordon, a professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan who follows biomedical industries, said Pfizer and Wyeth were a great fit that made the deal creditworthy.
First, because Pfizer has so much cash, the deal does not have to be highly leveraged with debt, Mr. Gordon said. Second, the two companies have enough overlap that they can achieve considerable saving through consolidating duplicate operations and cutting costs. And finally, parts of a combined operation could be spun off to raise money.
Mr. Gordon pointed to the animal health businesses of both companies — which, considered together, accounted for $2.8 billion in revenue and about $600 million in profit in the first nine months of 2008.
“They could sell that business for billions of dollars to either pay down the debt or service the debt,” he said. In addition, he said Pfizer could resell Wyeth’s consumer products business. He added: “This deal is the rare thing. This’ll be the only money investment bankers make in a while.”
Pfizer to Pay $68 Billion for Wyeth
By MATTHEW KARNITSCHNIG
Pfizer Inc. on Monday agreed to pay $68 billion to acquire rival Wyeth, in the largest pharmaceutical deal in nearly a decade.
Separately, Pfizer said fourth-quarter net income plunged 90% on $2.3 billion in litigation charges and that it would cut a further 10% of its work force, while Wyeth also reported a decline in fourth-quarter net profit.
Pfizer is in talks to acquire rival drug maker Wyeth in a deal the could be valued at more than $60 billion. WSJ reporter Kelsey Hubbard and Health Blog Editor Scott Hensley discuss why Wyeth and how this deal would work for Pfizer.
Pfizer said Monday it will borrow $22.5 billion from a consortium of banks to finance the deal. The company plans to use stock and its cash reserves to fund the rest of the deal.
Pfizer offered Wyeth shareholders $50.19 per share, paying $33 a share in cash and 0.985 a share in Pfizer stock. That is a 29% premium over where the shares closed on Thursday before The Wall Street Journal reported that the two were in talks.
With a value of $68 billion, the deal is the largest takeover in the pharmaceutical sector since Glaxo Wellcome PLC acquired SmithKline Beecham PLC for $76 billion in 2000.
Wyeth Chief Executive Bernard J. Poussot and his management team aren't expected to remain with the company after the takeover, according to one person close to the deal. That would put control of Wyeth firmly in the hands of Pfizer Chief Executive Jeffrey B. Kindler, who took Pfizer's helm in 2006.
Since then, Mr. Kindler has earned a reputation as a cost cutter, firing more than 15,000 employees since January 2007. He also has shuttered laboratories and put manufacturing plants up for sale in order to make the company more efficient.
Discuss
Is a Pfizer-Wyeth deal a good idea?
.Pfizer first approached Wyeth about a deal in June but the talks stalled amid the market turmoil in the fall. The talks then gathered steam again over the past month.
The Wyeth deal -- set to close no earlier than late in the third quarter -- appears to be mainly driven by the pursuit of such efficiencies. Pfizer believes the deal will lead to annual savings of $4 billion by the end of the third year. That will include what Pfizer said is a 10% cut of its work force and closing five manufacturing plants.
The combined company will also have 17 products that generate more than $1 billion in annual sales. Pfizer said Monday it exceeded its cost-reduction target in 2008 by cutting total costs by $2.8 billion. The company had been hoping to reach at least $2 billion.
Meanwhile, Pfizer's fourth-quarter net income fell to $266 million, or 4 cents a share, down from $2.72 billion, or 40 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding items including the settlement of investigations regarding off-label marketing of pain drug Bextra, earnings rose to 65 cents from 50 cents. Bextra was pulled from the market in 2005 amid concerns the drug was linked to an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Revenue fell 4.1% to $12.3 billion, hurt by patent expirations during 2008 and the strengthening dollar.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected earnings of 59 cents on revenue of $12.54 billion.
Looking ahead, the company said it expects 2009 earnings of $1.85 to $1.95 a share, excluding items, on revenue of $44 billion to $46 billion. Analysts were expecting $2.49 and $48.81 billion in revenue.
As for Wyeth, its fourth-quarter net income fell 5.8% to $960.4 million, or 71 cents a share, compared with $1.02 billion, or 75 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding restructuring costs, earnings were flat at 78 cents. Revenue decreased 7% to $5.3 billion, hurt by the impact of the strengthening dollar. Analysts had expected earnings of 79 cents on revenue of $5.79 billion.
Gross margin increased to 74.9% from 71.7% amid a 2.5 percentage-point boost from currency rates on costs of goods sold.
A group of five banks -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Barclays PLC and Citigroup Inc. -- have each agreed to provide $4.5 billion in financing for the Wyeth purchase, according to a person familiar with the transaction.
Pfizer will pay for the deal with roughly one third in borrowed money, one third in stock and one third from cash reserves.
Under the loan agreement, the banks can withhold financing if Pfizer's credit rating falls below a certain threshold. If that occurs, Pfizer would have to pay Wyeth a reverse breakup fee of $4.5 billion. That potential penalty is very high by historical norms and underscores the difficulty of completing deals in the current environment.
In order to protect its credit rating - which sits just below AAA - Pfizer plans to cut its quarterly dividend, which was 32 cents per share in the last quarter, by half. That should save the company more than $1 billion per quarter.
Pfizer first approached Wyeth about a deal in June, but the talks stalled amid the market turmoil in the fall. The negotiations then gathered steam again over the past month.
Wyeth's advisers on the deal were Morgan Stanley and New York-based Evercore Partners, a boutique advisory firm. Pfizer's lead advisers included Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Barclays PLC and Citigroup Inc. acted as financial advisers.
Meanwhile, Crucell NV said Wyeth pulled out of friendly takeover talks with the Dutch vaccine maker. Crucell admitted the discussions earlier this month, and people familiar with the matter at the time valued Crucell at €1 billion ($1.3 billion).
—Kerry Grace and Kevin Kingsbury contributed to this article.
Write to Matthew Karnitschnig at matthew.karnitschnig@wsj.com
Pfizer Inc. on Monday agreed to pay $68 billion to acquire rival Wyeth, in the largest pharmaceutical deal in nearly a decade.
Separately, Pfizer said fourth-quarter net income plunged 90% on $2.3 billion in litigation charges and that it would cut a further 10% of its work force, while Wyeth also reported a decline in fourth-quarter net profit.
Pfizer is in talks to acquire rival drug maker Wyeth in a deal the could be valued at more than $60 billion. WSJ reporter Kelsey Hubbard and Health Blog Editor Scott Hensley discuss why Wyeth and how this deal would work for Pfizer.
Pfizer said Monday it will borrow $22.5 billion from a consortium of banks to finance the deal. The company plans to use stock and its cash reserves to fund the rest of the deal.
Pfizer offered Wyeth shareholders $50.19 per share, paying $33 a share in cash and 0.985 a share in Pfizer stock. That is a 29% premium over where the shares closed on Thursday before The Wall Street Journal reported that the two were in talks.
With a value of $68 billion, the deal is the largest takeover in the pharmaceutical sector since Glaxo Wellcome PLC acquired SmithKline Beecham PLC for $76 billion in 2000.
Wyeth Chief Executive Bernard J. Poussot and his management team aren't expected to remain with the company after the takeover, according to one person close to the deal. That would put control of Wyeth firmly in the hands of Pfizer Chief Executive Jeffrey B. Kindler, who took Pfizer's helm in 2006.
Since then, Mr. Kindler has earned a reputation as a cost cutter, firing more than 15,000 employees since January 2007. He also has shuttered laboratories and put manufacturing plants up for sale in order to make the company more efficient.
Discuss
Is a Pfizer-Wyeth deal a good idea?
.Pfizer first approached Wyeth about a deal in June but the talks stalled amid the market turmoil in the fall. The talks then gathered steam again over the past month.
The Wyeth deal -- set to close no earlier than late in the third quarter -- appears to be mainly driven by the pursuit of such efficiencies. Pfizer believes the deal will lead to annual savings of $4 billion by the end of the third year. That will include what Pfizer said is a 10% cut of its work force and closing five manufacturing plants.
The combined company will also have 17 products that generate more than $1 billion in annual sales. Pfizer said Monday it exceeded its cost-reduction target in 2008 by cutting total costs by $2.8 billion. The company had been hoping to reach at least $2 billion.
Meanwhile, Pfizer's fourth-quarter net income fell to $266 million, or 4 cents a share, down from $2.72 billion, or 40 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding items including the settlement of investigations regarding off-label marketing of pain drug Bextra, earnings rose to 65 cents from 50 cents. Bextra was pulled from the market in 2005 amid concerns the drug was linked to an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Revenue fell 4.1% to $12.3 billion, hurt by patent expirations during 2008 and the strengthening dollar.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected earnings of 59 cents on revenue of $12.54 billion.
Looking ahead, the company said it expects 2009 earnings of $1.85 to $1.95 a share, excluding items, on revenue of $44 billion to $46 billion. Analysts were expecting $2.49 and $48.81 billion in revenue.
As for Wyeth, its fourth-quarter net income fell 5.8% to $960.4 million, or 71 cents a share, compared with $1.02 billion, or 75 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding restructuring costs, earnings were flat at 78 cents. Revenue decreased 7% to $5.3 billion, hurt by the impact of the strengthening dollar. Analysts had expected earnings of 79 cents on revenue of $5.79 billion.
Gross margin increased to 74.9% from 71.7% amid a 2.5 percentage-point boost from currency rates on costs of goods sold.
A group of five banks -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Barclays PLC and Citigroup Inc. -- have each agreed to provide $4.5 billion in financing for the Wyeth purchase, according to a person familiar with the transaction.
Pfizer will pay for the deal with roughly one third in borrowed money, one third in stock and one third from cash reserves.
Under the loan agreement, the banks can withhold financing if Pfizer's credit rating falls below a certain threshold. If that occurs, Pfizer would have to pay Wyeth a reverse breakup fee of $4.5 billion. That potential penalty is very high by historical norms and underscores the difficulty of completing deals in the current environment.
In order to protect its credit rating - which sits just below AAA - Pfizer plans to cut its quarterly dividend, which was 32 cents per share in the last quarter, by half. That should save the company more than $1 billion per quarter.
Pfizer first approached Wyeth about a deal in June, but the talks stalled amid the market turmoil in the fall. The negotiations then gathered steam again over the past month.
Wyeth's advisers on the deal were Morgan Stanley and New York-based Evercore Partners, a boutique advisory firm. Pfizer's lead advisers included Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Barclays PLC and Citigroup Inc. acted as financial advisers.
Meanwhile, Crucell NV said Wyeth pulled out of friendly takeover talks with the Dutch vaccine maker. Crucell admitted the discussions earlier this month, and people familiar with the matter at the time valued Crucell at €1 billion ($1.3 billion).
—Kerry Grace and Kevin Kingsbury contributed to this article.
Write to Matthew Karnitschnig at matthew.karnitschnig@wsj.com
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Pfizer Offers $66.8 Billion for Wyeth.
By Shannon Pettypiece, Tom Randall and Zachary Mider
Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc. would pay about $66.8 billion to acquire Wyeth in a bid being reviewed by the two boards today, according to people familiar with the talks. An agreement could be announced early this week.
Wyeth shareholders would get $50.19 a share, including $33 in cash and 0.985 Pfizer shares, one of the people said. That’s a 29 percent premium to Wyeth’s Jan. 22 price, before word of the talks became public. Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Kindler, 53, will lead the combined company, two people said.
Pfizer, the world’s biggest drugmaker, gains the depression treatment Effexor and pneumonia vaccine Prevnar in the transaction, and may raise its annual sales by 46 percent to $70 billion. That would help the New York-based company offset some of the $12 billion in revenue it begins losing in 2011 when the Lipitor cholesterol pill gets generic competition. It may also spur consolidation in an industry buffeted by a thinning pipeline of new products and growing patent expirations.
“Pfizer’s labs weren’t able to create enough drugs to replace the Lipitor revenue,” said Les Funtleyder, an analyst with Miller Tabak & Co. in New York, in a Jan. 23 interview. “As that became more obvious, Pfizer felt like they had to do something. They could have decided to let Lipitor go away and become smaller. They are choosing the route of getting bigger.”
Pfizer’s acquisition of Madison, New Jersey-based Wyeth, if approved, would be the largest in almost five years in the pharmaceutical industry.
Bank Advisers
Among the banks advising Pfizer and arranging a loan package to finance part of the purchase price are Bank of America Corp.; Barclays Plc; Citigroup Inc.; Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and JPMorgan Chase & Co., said people with knowledge of those banks’ roles. Morgan Stanley and Evercore Partners Inc. are counseling Wyeth, the people said.
Pfizer spokesman Ray Kerins and Wyeth spokesman Dan McIntyre weren’t able to be reached for comment.
Investors gave the transaction an early vote of confidence. Pfizer’s shares rose 24 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $17.45 on Jan. 23 when the talks were first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Wyeth jumped 12.7 percent, or $4.91, to $43.74.
Wyeth’s $1.35 billion offer to buy Crucell NV, a Dutch developer of biotechnology medicines against AIDS, rabies and Ebola may be dead. Investors punished Crucell after Pfizer bid was reported, driving its stock down 9.6 percent to 15.51 euros in Amsterdam trading.
130,000 Employees
The combined company will have 130,000 employees, and its annual revenue would be 55 percent more than the world’s second- biggest drugmaker, London-based GlaxoSmithKline Plc, which has said it will focus on smaller purchases in the year ahead.
Effexor was Wyeth’s top-selling drug in 2007 with $3.79 billion in sales. Prevnar generated $2.4 billion. Wyeth plans to seek U.S. approval this year for a new version of Prevnar that would cover six additional strains of pneumonia, continuing its dominance over competitors.
Wyeth’s “comparative lack of a patent cliff could help smooth earnings,” said Tim Anderson, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein in New York, in a research report.
The last big pharmaceutical industry acquisition came in August 2004, when Paris-based Sanofi-Synthelabo acquired Aventis SA of Strasburg, France, for $64.4 billion to create Sanofi Aventis SA, France’s largest drugmaker. A Pfizer-Wyeth agreement would exceed Roche Holding AG’s $43.7 billion offer for the remainder of Genentech Inc., announced in July.
Promise and Peril
The Wyeth transaction carries both promise and peril for Pfizer, analysts and investors said in interviews since talks were first reported by the Wall Street Journal Jan. 23.
It could keep Pfizer’s earnings unchanged at $2.69 a share from 2010 to 2015, when patents expire on some of Pfizer’s biggest products, Anderson said in his report. That compares to a 68 percent drop without the acquisition, to $1.40 in 2015.
To achieve that, Pfizer would need to cut 70 percent of Wyeth’s research, marketing and administrative costs, Anderson said.
Pfizer also gets partial rights to the experimental Alzheimer’s disease treatment bapineuzumab, which some analysts have said could generate $8 billion in peak annual sales by 2015 if approved. That compound, though, has been tarnished by side effects after an early stage study showed it increased swelling in the brain, and may not work in about half of all Alzheimer’s patients who carry a certain gene.
Legal Woes
Pfizer would also inherit Wyeth’s legal woes, Wyeth is facing claims by more than 10,000 women in the U.S. who contend its hormone replacement drugs Prempro and Premarin cause breast cancer. Wyeth has also set aside $21 billion to resolve a decade of litigation over its fen-phen diet pill, pulled off the market in 1997 after being linked to heart damage and lung disease.
The Wyeth bid reflects Kindler’s failure to offset oncoming generic competition to Lipitor, the world’s best-selling medicine, using jobs cuts, new research priorities and rising sales in developing countries. It marks a return to the mega- merger strategy of former chief Hank McKinnell, replaced by Kindler in July 2006 after the stock had fallen 40 percent over the previous five years.
McKinnell, while being groomed as CEO in 2001, was instrumental in Pfizer’s $115 billion acquisition of Warner- Lambert Co., the developer of Lipitor. After becoming chief, he then paid $60 billion in 2003 for Pharmacia Corp. and its pain- killing medicines Celebrex and Bextra.
Bextra, Celebrex
While Lipitor became the world’s best-selling medicine, Bextra was pulled from the market in 2005 and Celebrex lost almost half its sales following the recall of the similar-acting Vioxx. The back-to-back purchases left Pfizer with a bloated research operation, excess manufacturing capacity and too few products in development to replace those going off patent, investors and analysts have said.
When Kindler arrived, he preached a different gospel. He fired more than 15,000 workers over two years and closed five research centers. He then reorganized scientists into smaller units, started an independent biotechnology center in California, and stopped work on more than 100 experimental treatments to focus on those with the highest profit potential.
Those efforts, though, failed to staunch stock declines fed by investor concerns about Lipitor’s patent expiration. The company lost more than a third of its value in New York Stock Exchange composite trading since Kindler took the helm, compared with a 19 percent drop in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Pharmaceutical Index.
Praise and Concern
The Wyeth acquisition has drawn both praise and concern from analysts and investors since the talks were revealed.
Michael Obuchowski at First Empire Asset Management of Hauppauge, New York, said smaller potential acquisitions, such as Foster City, California-based Gilead Biosciences Inc., the biggest maker of HIV treatments, would cost less and better enhance Kindler’s plans to make Pfizer leaner and more creative.
“The string of large acquisitions in the past never benefited shareholders,” Obuchowski said. “Acquiring another slow-growing company turns Pfizer into a solid, slow-growing company that won’t grow any better than Pfizer is right now. It’s a company in restructuring acquiring a company in restructuring.”
Wyeth also has “plenty of lingering legal and patent expiration problems of its own,” said Carol Levenson, an analyst with Gimme Credit LLC in Chicago, in a Jan. 23 note to clients. “We don’t see why Wyeth is a solution to Pfizer’s problems.”
‘Capable Guy’
Bruce Berkowitz, chief investment officer at Fairholme Capital Management LLC, Pfizer’s seventh largest investor as of Sept. 30, said the Wyeth move could help Kindler reinvigorate shareholder interest in Pfizer.
“I’m confident that he is the guy capable of making a good decision -- unlike his predecessor who appears to have overpaid on previous acquisitions,” said Berkowitz, who is based in Miami, Florida, in a Jan. 24 interview. “He has a better appreciation for putting two large organizations together, and Pfizer, as an organization, has never been better in terms of a new invigorated corporate culture.”
Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc. would pay about $66.8 billion to acquire Wyeth in a bid being reviewed by the two boards today, according to people familiar with the talks. An agreement could be announced early this week.
Wyeth shareholders would get $50.19 a share, including $33 in cash and 0.985 Pfizer shares, one of the people said. That’s a 29 percent premium to Wyeth’s Jan. 22 price, before word of the talks became public. Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Kindler, 53, will lead the combined company, two people said.
Pfizer, the world’s biggest drugmaker, gains the depression treatment Effexor and pneumonia vaccine Prevnar in the transaction, and may raise its annual sales by 46 percent to $70 billion. That would help the New York-based company offset some of the $12 billion in revenue it begins losing in 2011 when the Lipitor cholesterol pill gets generic competition. It may also spur consolidation in an industry buffeted by a thinning pipeline of new products and growing patent expirations.
“Pfizer’s labs weren’t able to create enough drugs to replace the Lipitor revenue,” said Les Funtleyder, an analyst with Miller Tabak & Co. in New York, in a Jan. 23 interview. “As that became more obvious, Pfizer felt like they had to do something. They could have decided to let Lipitor go away and become smaller. They are choosing the route of getting bigger.”
Pfizer’s acquisition of Madison, New Jersey-based Wyeth, if approved, would be the largest in almost five years in the pharmaceutical industry.
Bank Advisers
Among the banks advising Pfizer and arranging a loan package to finance part of the purchase price are Bank of America Corp.; Barclays Plc; Citigroup Inc.; Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and JPMorgan Chase & Co., said people with knowledge of those banks’ roles. Morgan Stanley and Evercore Partners Inc. are counseling Wyeth, the people said.
Pfizer spokesman Ray Kerins and Wyeth spokesman Dan McIntyre weren’t able to be reached for comment.
Investors gave the transaction an early vote of confidence. Pfizer’s shares rose 24 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $17.45 on Jan. 23 when the talks were first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Wyeth jumped 12.7 percent, or $4.91, to $43.74.
Wyeth’s $1.35 billion offer to buy Crucell NV, a Dutch developer of biotechnology medicines against AIDS, rabies and Ebola may be dead. Investors punished Crucell after Pfizer bid was reported, driving its stock down 9.6 percent to 15.51 euros in Amsterdam trading.
130,000 Employees
The combined company will have 130,000 employees, and its annual revenue would be 55 percent more than the world’s second- biggest drugmaker, London-based GlaxoSmithKline Plc, which has said it will focus on smaller purchases in the year ahead.
Effexor was Wyeth’s top-selling drug in 2007 with $3.79 billion in sales. Prevnar generated $2.4 billion. Wyeth plans to seek U.S. approval this year for a new version of Prevnar that would cover six additional strains of pneumonia, continuing its dominance over competitors.
Wyeth’s “comparative lack of a patent cliff could help smooth earnings,” said Tim Anderson, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein in New York, in a research report.
The last big pharmaceutical industry acquisition came in August 2004, when Paris-based Sanofi-Synthelabo acquired Aventis SA of Strasburg, France, for $64.4 billion to create Sanofi Aventis SA, France’s largest drugmaker. A Pfizer-Wyeth agreement would exceed Roche Holding AG’s $43.7 billion offer for the remainder of Genentech Inc., announced in July.
Promise and Peril
The Wyeth transaction carries both promise and peril for Pfizer, analysts and investors said in interviews since talks were first reported by the Wall Street Journal Jan. 23.
It could keep Pfizer’s earnings unchanged at $2.69 a share from 2010 to 2015, when patents expire on some of Pfizer’s biggest products, Anderson said in his report. That compares to a 68 percent drop without the acquisition, to $1.40 in 2015.
To achieve that, Pfizer would need to cut 70 percent of Wyeth’s research, marketing and administrative costs, Anderson said.
Pfizer also gets partial rights to the experimental Alzheimer’s disease treatment bapineuzumab, which some analysts have said could generate $8 billion in peak annual sales by 2015 if approved. That compound, though, has been tarnished by side effects after an early stage study showed it increased swelling in the brain, and may not work in about half of all Alzheimer’s patients who carry a certain gene.
Legal Woes
Pfizer would also inherit Wyeth’s legal woes, Wyeth is facing claims by more than 10,000 women in the U.S. who contend its hormone replacement drugs Prempro and Premarin cause breast cancer. Wyeth has also set aside $21 billion to resolve a decade of litigation over its fen-phen diet pill, pulled off the market in 1997 after being linked to heart damage and lung disease.
The Wyeth bid reflects Kindler’s failure to offset oncoming generic competition to Lipitor, the world’s best-selling medicine, using jobs cuts, new research priorities and rising sales in developing countries. It marks a return to the mega- merger strategy of former chief Hank McKinnell, replaced by Kindler in July 2006 after the stock had fallen 40 percent over the previous five years.
McKinnell, while being groomed as CEO in 2001, was instrumental in Pfizer’s $115 billion acquisition of Warner- Lambert Co., the developer of Lipitor. After becoming chief, he then paid $60 billion in 2003 for Pharmacia Corp. and its pain- killing medicines Celebrex and Bextra.
Bextra, Celebrex
While Lipitor became the world’s best-selling medicine, Bextra was pulled from the market in 2005 and Celebrex lost almost half its sales following the recall of the similar-acting Vioxx. The back-to-back purchases left Pfizer with a bloated research operation, excess manufacturing capacity and too few products in development to replace those going off patent, investors and analysts have said.
When Kindler arrived, he preached a different gospel. He fired more than 15,000 workers over two years and closed five research centers. He then reorganized scientists into smaller units, started an independent biotechnology center in California, and stopped work on more than 100 experimental treatments to focus on those with the highest profit potential.
Those efforts, though, failed to staunch stock declines fed by investor concerns about Lipitor’s patent expiration. The company lost more than a third of its value in New York Stock Exchange composite trading since Kindler took the helm, compared with a 19 percent drop in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Pharmaceutical Index.
Praise and Concern
The Wyeth acquisition has drawn both praise and concern from analysts and investors since the talks were revealed.
Michael Obuchowski at First Empire Asset Management of Hauppauge, New York, said smaller potential acquisitions, such as Foster City, California-based Gilead Biosciences Inc., the biggest maker of HIV treatments, would cost less and better enhance Kindler’s plans to make Pfizer leaner and more creative.
“The string of large acquisitions in the past never benefited shareholders,” Obuchowski said. “Acquiring another slow-growing company turns Pfizer into a solid, slow-growing company that won’t grow any better than Pfizer is right now. It’s a company in restructuring acquiring a company in restructuring.”
Wyeth also has “plenty of lingering legal and patent expiration problems of its own,” said Carol Levenson, an analyst with Gimme Credit LLC in Chicago, in a Jan. 23 note to clients. “We don’t see why Wyeth is a solution to Pfizer’s problems.”
‘Capable Guy’
Bruce Berkowitz, chief investment officer at Fairholme Capital Management LLC, Pfizer’s seventh largest investor as of Sept. 30, said the Wyeth move could help Kindler reinvigorate shareholder interest in Pfizer.
“I’m confident that he is the guy capable of making a good decision -- unlike his predecessor who appears to have overpaid on previous acquisitions,” said Berkowitz, who is based in Miami, Florida, in a Jan. 24 interview. “He has a better appreciation for putting two large organizations together, and Pfizer, as an organization, has never been better in terms of a new invigorated corporate culture.”
Pfizer's investment bankers leaked the Wyeth acquisition to push Wyeth board.
I got confirmation from separate source today that Pfizer's investment bankers leaked the deal to WSJ on Friday "to pressure Wyeth to move, since the Wyeth board balked at the price and wanted a larger premium."
I'm also told that the Pink Sheet will be carrying this information.
The boards of Pfizer and Wyeth met today to discuss the combination of the two companies.
The boards also held separate meetings to finalize an agreement and an announcement could be made as early as Monday, according to another source.
Of course, nothing is done until the dotted line is signed.
I'm also told that the Pink Sheet will be carrying this information.
The boards of Pfizer and Wyeth met today to discuss the combination of the two companies.
The boards also held separate meetings to finalize an agreement and an announcement could be made as early as Monday, according to another source.
Of course, nothing is done until the dotted line is signed.
The reason Pfizer is pushing like crazy to buy Wyeth. And why all the pundits are wrong.
The fact that Pfizer is trying to acquire Wyeth was splashed on WSJ's front page on Friday. An article like that doesn't end up in that space by mistake. Someone leaked the information and had good reason to do so.
There is really no reason for Wyeth to leak the info, so that leaves a party associated with Pfizer.
Someone wanted to put pressure on Wyeth's Board of Directors, making it more likely they will accept a deal.
By showing that the stock market loves the deal, driving up Wyeth stock 10% and not even penalizing Pfizer, the stock market has responded and told Wyeth that shareholders would be really upset if the deal doesn't happen.
So Pfizer or their investment bankers leaked the deal to pressure Wyeth to sign on the dotted line, probably this weekend.
A lot of pundits whom I respect claim it is crazy for Pfizer to buy Wyeth.
Jim Edwards, formerly of Brandweek and now of BNet writes "what would the new company be called, Pfyeth? Wyther? Wyzer?"
Answer is none of those. It will be called Pfizer because this is not a merger, it is an acquisition.
Jim also writes "Unless these R&D departments are filled with paper-pushers and not scientists, then slashing R&D can ultimately lead to only one thing: reducing the number of new drugs you produce. It doesn’t matter if the expenses are internal or for acquisitions. Drugs costs money. No R&D money, no new drugs. So, again, that raises the question of whether merging for a one-time saving on the elimination of duplicate tasks is really worth it."
But what is important to Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler today is not the drugs his company may launch ten or fifteen years from now. His interest is survival and increasing the value of his stock options. That's the reason he does the deal. It is short term, but so is most of business.
And, very few of those scientists have come up with great new drugs. Most big Pfizer drugs have been bought or inlicensed, so Jeff probably couldn't care less if he has to cut scientists. After all he just dumped 800 scientists over at Pfizer.
Jim also writes that "Pfizer is historically bad at deals" and "don’t forget Pfizer’s acquisition of Pharmacia. That was the company that made Celebrex – whose sales promptly tanked as soon as the Vioxx scandal broke."
But that doesn't mean Pfizer was bad at doing deals; the fact that they bought something that blew up in their face. That's not an indictment of doing more mergers. It simply is--bad luck.
And Fred Hassan was real lucky to sell Pharmacia when he did. I've written it before, he'd been carried out of this industry covered with tar and feathers if he'd still been at Pharmacia. He got lucky, which is a trait many successful men share.
Jim ends his article with the following quote, "“Pfizer still has significant problems, so from Pfizer’s perspective this is a good idea,” said Chris Albani, a Tokyo- based partner at PRTM who has advised pharmaceutical companies for about 20 years. “From Wyeth’s perspective, if I were them, I would try to get out of it.”"
Wyeth should try to get out of this deal?
Huh? Who is "Wyeth"?
A major premium on share price, why would share holders NOT want this deal?
Wyeth shareholders would love this deal because they will make more money than if they sat on their hands and waited for Bernard Poussot to pull a rabbit out of his hat.
The fact that Wyeth employees wouldn't be happy, nor that science would be well served by Pfizer slashing and burning costs, is a different story.
The people that own "Wyeth" do so to make money. And they would be more happy with more money than less money.
And there are plenty of other pundits who disagree with the Pfizer-Wyeth lock-up.
One of them is Fortune writer, John Simons who penned the article, “Why a Pfizer-Wyeth merger is a bad idea.” His basic concept is that “Pfizer's new size was its chief advantage, but also its Achilles Heel.”
And he’s right about that.
Bigger means you need bigger drugs to succeed, which makes success more elusive.
Getting smaller, however, is not rewarded by Wall Street, and so the only way forward for Pfizer is to get even bigger. And to do this organically is all but impossible.
Jeff Kindler needs to continue to buy every pharma company in the business, to fuel the stock markets expectations of continued growth. The day he stops he is out of a job.
Which means twenty years from now Big Pharma will look like Big Auto. Three companies left standing, asking for government hand-outs.
Then the whole thing will explode, and the cycle will start again. That's capitalism--devouring your own, dying, rebirthing.
Fortune also pointed out that “Wyeth's fortunes aren't much better [than Pfizer’s].”
But if two big pharma companies are going down, they’d go down more slowly if they could devour each other and cut costs in the process.
After all, all Jeff needs to do is to continue to buy time, make sure Pfizer doesn't sink.
He's not hunting Wyeth to build a great new empire. He's doing it to stay afloat when he loses 25% of his sales when Lipitor goes down the tube.
And when that happens, he'll go out and shop for another big company. Maybe Glaxo.
He'll make money doing this, the investment bankers will make money, shareholders will make money and that's how our system works. The losers will be the employees and their families.
So far, we haven't found a better system, which may be kind of sad, but I don't see anyone voting for socialism in this country, especially not in the drug industry, so it is kind of hard for the free-market loving pharma employees to whine when the free market whacks their heads off.
There is really no reason for Wyeth to leak the info, so that leaves a party associated with Pfizer.
Someone wanted to put pressure on Wyeth's Board of Directors, making it more likely they will accept a deal.
By showing that the stock market loves the deal, driving up Wyeth stock 10% and not even penalizing Pfizer, the stock market has responded and told Wyeth that shareholders would be really upset if the deal doesn't happen.
So Pfizer or their investment bankers leaked the deal to pressure Wyeth to sign on the dotted line, probably this weekend.
A lot of pundits whom I respect claim it is crazy for Pfizer to buy Wyeth.
Jim Edwards, formerly of Brandweek and now of BNet writes "what would the new company be called, Pfyeth? Wyther? Wyzer?"
Answer is none of those. It will be called Pfizer because this is not a merger, it is an acquisition.
Jim also writes "Unless these R&D departments are filled with paper-pushers and not scientists, then slashing R&D can ultimately lead to only one thing: reducing the number of new drugs you produce. It doesn’t matter if the expenses are internal or for acquisitions. Drugs costs money. No R&D money, no new drugs. So, again, that raises the question of whether merging for a one-time saving on the elimination of duplicate tasks is really worth it."
But what is important to Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler today is not the drugs his company may launch ten or fifteen years from now. His interest is survival and increasing the value of his stock options. That's the reason he does the deal. It is short term, but so is most of business.
And, very few of those scientists have come up with great new drugs. Most big Pfizer drugs have been bought or inlicensed, so Jeff probably couldn't care less if he has to cut scientists. After all he just dumped 800 scientists over at Pfizer.
Jim also writes that "Pfizer is historically bad at deals" and "don’t forget Pfizer’s acquisition of Pharmacia. That was the company that made Celebrex – whose sales promptly tanked as soon as the Vioxx scandal broke."
But that doesn't mean Pfizer was bad at doing deals; the fact that they bought something that blew up in their face. That's not an indictment of doing more mergers. It simply is--bad luck.
And Fred Hassan was real lucky to sell Pharmacia when he did. I've written it before, he'd been carried out of this industry covered with tar and feathers if he'd still been at Pharmacia. He got lucky, which is a trait many successful men share.
Jim ends his article with the following quote, "“Pfizer still has significant problems, so from Pfizer’s perspective this is a good idea,” said Chris Albani, a Tokyo- based partner at PRTM who has advised pharmaceutical companies for about 20 years. “From Wyeth’s perspective, if I were them, I would try to get out of it.”"
Wyeth should try to get out of this deal?
Huh? Who is "Wyeth"?
A major premium on share price, why would share holders NOT want this deal?
Wyeth shareholders would love this deal because they will make more money than if they sat on their hands and waited for Bernard Poussot to pull a rabbit out of his hat.
The fact that Wyeth employees wouldn't be happy, nor that science would be well served by Pfizer slashing and burning costs, is a different story.
The people that own "Wyeth" do so to make money. And they would be more happy with more money than less money.
And there are plenty of other pundits who disagree with the Pfizer-Wyeth lock-up.
One of them is Fortune writer, John Simons who penned the article, “Why a Pfizer-Wyeth merger is a bad idea.” His basic concept is that “Pfizer's new size was its chief advantage, but also its Achilles Heel.”
And he’s right about that.
Bigger means you need bigger drugs to succeed, which makes success more elusive.
Getting smaller, however, is not rewarded by Wall Street, and so the only way forward for Pfizer is to get even bigger. And to do this organically is all but impossible.
Jeff Kindler needs to continue to buy every pharma company in the business, to fuel the stock markets expectations of continued growth. The day he stops he is out of a job.
Which means twenty years from now Big Pharma will look like Big Auto. Three companies left standing, asking for government hand-outs.
Then the whole thing will explode, and the cycle will start again. That's capitalism--devouring your own, dying, rebirthing.
Fortune also pointed out that “Wyeth's fortunes aren't much better [than Pfizer’s].”
But if two big pharma companies are going down, they’d go down more slowly if they could devour each other and cut costs in the process.
After all, all Jeff needs to do is to continue to buy time, make sure Pfizer doesn't sink.
He's not hunting Wyeth to build a great new empire. He's doing it to stay afloat when he loses 25% of his sales when Lipitor goes down the tube.
And when that happens, he'll go out and shop for another big company. Maybe Glaxo.
He'll make money doing this, the investment bankers will make money, shareholders will make money and that's how our system works. The losers will be the employees and their families.
So far, we haven't found a better system, which may be kind of sad, but I don't see anyone voting for socialism in this country, especially not in the drug industry, so it is kind of hard for the free-market loving pharma employees to whine when the free market whacks their heads off.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Pfizer + Wyeth: What a difference another year can make.
Kindler has made it clear that there will be no big mergers, so he’s essentially asking everyone to continue to be patient until his many small moves—the cost cutting, the biotech acquisitions, the restructuring—show results. But patience is wearing thin. But Kindler can’t exactly go down to the lab and cook up some great new drugs all by himself.
PharmExec, March 2008
The message I hear is, 'Don't expect anything radical,' but the challenges require radical change," Morgan Stanley's Jami Rubin told the Wall Street Journal.
FiercePharma, March 2008
CEO Jeff Kindler says the drug giant is open to acquisitions large and small, so let the deal-making guessing game begin.
TheStreet, Jan 2009
PharmExec, March 2008
The message I hear is, 'Don't expect anything radical,' but the challenges require radical change," Morgan Stanley's Jami Rubin told the Wall Street Journal.
FiercePharma, March 2008
CEO Jeff Kindler says the drug giant is open to acquisitions large and small, so let the deal-making guessing game begin.
TheStreet, Jan 2009
Pfizer push to acquire Wyeth could cost thousands of jobs
Analysts say that if an accord is reached, cuts would hit Wyeth harder. It employs 5,000 in the Phila. region.
By Miriam Hill
Inquirer Staff Writer
A $60 billion purchase of drugmaker Wyeth by rival Pfizer Inc. is not a certainty, but if it does happen, it could lead to thousands of job cuts throughout Wyeth, including at its extensive Philadelphia-area operations.
No one from the two pharmaceutical companies would comment yesterday on reports of ongoing acquisition talks. Industry observers said Pfizer was desperate to do a deal to replace the billions in sales it would lose when the patent on its blockbuster cholesterol drug, Lipitor, expired in two years.
Making a deal profitable would demand steep job cuts at both companies, these analysts said. Cuts likely would fall more heavily on Wyeth, which employs 47,000 people worldwide, 5,000 at facilities in Malvern and Collegeville.
"They're slash-and-burn. To be taken over by Pfizer is not a fun thing," said Peter Rost, a former Pfizer vice president who was fired after accusing the company of marketing its drugs for unapproved uses and is campaigning to head the Food and Drug Administration.
Daniel Hoffman, who runs a pharmaceutical-research firm in Glenmoore, Chester County, said several factors would drive pressures to cut costs. Generic drugs, a weakening economy, and likely health-care changes already have put drug companies in a bind.
"Generally, in this kind of deal, you would be looking at 25 to 30 percent cost reduction," Hoffman said, "but here it's going to be more like 50 percent."
Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Inc. analyst Timothy Anderson predicted that Pfizer would cut 70 percent of Wyeth's current $10 billion budget for research and development, and for marketing and administrative expenses.
He based his estimates on an eventual sale price of $65 billion.
At the Wyeth Pharmaceuticals campus in Malvern yesterday, workers, most of whom declined to give their names, said they had heard almost nothing.
"It's just wait and see," one man said as he walked from one of the two red-brick-and-glass buildings to the parking lot. "There's very little information, so there is nothing to comment on." A woman said she viewed the news as positive because it offered opportunities to innovate.
Wyeth, based in Madison, N.J., completed a 7 percent reduction in its workforce late last year. Pfizer, based in New York, employs 83,400. The company has cut 15,000 jobs since January 2007 and is in the process of cutting more.
The harsh conditions in the pharmaceutical industry resonate deeply at Pfizer because of the approaching expiration of the patent on Lipitor.
The best-selling cholesterol drug accounts for almost 25 percent of Pfizer's revenue, which was $48.4 billion in 2007. The company has developed few of its own top-selling drugs and has relied on acquisitions for new products.
Wyeth, which makes Prevnar, a popular pneumococcal vaccine, as well as Robitussin and other consumer products, could give Pfizer a steadier source of sales.
"Theoretically, this is the best of the three bad options Pfizer had," said Les Funtleyder, an analyst with Miller Tabak + Co. L.L.C. and author of Healthcare Investing. "They could buy something big, buy a bunch of small things, or do nothing and let Lipitor go off patent."
In 2000, Pfizer bought Warner-Lambert for $116 billion because it made Lipitor. Analysts have roundly criticized Pfizer over the years, saying it paid too much in that deal and for other acquisition mistakes.
Pfizer cut ruthlessly after the Warner-Lambert deal, said Rost, the former Pfizer vice president.
After several years of eliminating jobs that once totaled 3,600 at that company's Ann Arbor, Mich., facility, Pfizer announced its closing in January 2007. Among those put out of work was Bob Sliskovic, a scientist credited with developing Lipitor.
Rumors of a Pfizer acquisition of Wyeth or another company have been circulating for months. The Wall Street Journal confirmed talks yesterday. Pfizer is expected to use a combination of cash, stock and debt if it completes the deal. Carol Levenson, an analyst with the research firm Gimme Credit L.L.C., said the acquisition could damage Pfizer's credit outlook.
"We don't see why Wyeth is a solution to Pfizer's problems - it has plenty of lingering legal and patent-expiration problems of its own," she said in a note to clients. Wyeth last year lost patent protection on the antibiotic Zosyn and the heartburn drug Protonix.
Analysts said a slight thaw in the credit markets recently might have pushed the talks forward.
Wyeth shares rose $4.91, or 12.6 percent, closing yesterday at $43.74.
Pfizer shares closed up 24 cents, at $17.45.
By Miriam Hill
Inquirer Staff Writer
A $60 billion purchase of drugmaker Wyeth by rival Pfizer Inc. is not a certainty, but if it does happen, it could lead to thousands of job cuts throughout Wyeth, including at its extensive Philadelphia-area operations.
No one from the two pharmaceutical companies would comment yesterday on reports of ongoing acquisition talks. Industry observers said Pfizer was desperate to do a deal to replace the billions in sales it would lose when the patent on its blockbuster cholesterol drug, Lipitor, expired in two years.
Making a deal profitable would demand steep job cuts at both companies, these analysts said. Cuts likely would fall more heavily on Wyeth, which employs 47,000 people worldwide, 5,000 at facilities in Malvern and Collegeville.
"They're slash-and-burn. To be taken over by Pfizer is not a fun thing," said Peter Rost, a former Pfizer vice president who was fired after accusing the company of marketing its drugs for unapproved uses and is campaigning to head the Food and Drug Administration.
Daniel Hoffman, who runs a pharmaceutical-research firm in Glenmoore, Chester County, said several factors would drive pressures to cut costs. Generic drugs, a weakening economy, and likely health-care changes already have put drug companies in a bind.
"Generally, in this kind of deal, you would be looking at 25 to 30 percent cost reduction," Hoffman said, "but here it's going to be more like 50 percent."
Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Inc. analyst Timothy Anderson predicted that Pfizer would cut 70 percent of Wyeth's current $10 billion budget for research and development, and for marketing and administrative expenses.
He based his estimates on an eventual sale price of $65 billion.
At the Wyeth Pharmaceuticals campus in Malvern yesterday, workers, most of whom declined to give their names, said they had heard almost nothing.
"It's just wait and see," one man said as he walked from one of the two red-brick-and-glass buildings to the parking lot. "There's very little information, so there is nothing to comment on." A woman said she viewed the news as positive because it offered opportunities to innovate.
Wyeth, based in Madison, N.J., completed a 7 percent reduction in its workforce late last year. Pfizer, based in New York, employs 83,400. The company has cut 15,000 jobs since January 2007 and is in the process of cutting more.
The harsh conditions in the pharmaceutical industry resonate deeply at Pfizer because of the approaching expiration of the patent on Lipitor.
The best-selling cholesterol drug accounts for almost 25 percent of Pfizer's revenue, which was $48.4 billion in 2007. The company has developed few of its own top-selling drugs and has relied on acquisitions for new products.
Wyeth, which makes Prevnar, a popular pneumococcal vaccine, as well as Robitussin and other consumer products, could give Pfizer a steadier source of sales.
"Theoretically, this is the best of the three bad options Pfizer had," said Les Funtleyder, an analyst with Miller Tabak + Co. L.L.C. and author of Healthcare Investing. "They could buy something big, buy a bunch of small things, or do nothing and let Lipitor go off patent."
In 2000, Pfizer bought Warner-Lambert for $116 billion because it made Lipitor. Analysts have roundly criticized Pfizer over the years, saying it paid too much in that deal and for other acquisition mistakes.
Pfizer cut ruthlessly after the Warner-Lambert deal, said Rost, the former Pfizer vice president.
After several years of eliminating jobs that once totaled 3,600 at that company's Ann Arbor, Mich., facility, Pfizer announced its closing in January 2007. Among those put out of work was Bob Sliskovic, a scientist credited with developing Lipitor.
Rumors of a Pfizer acquisition of Wyeth or another company have been circulating for months. The Wall Street Journal confirmed talks yesterday. Pfizer is expected to use a combination of cash, stock and debt if it completes the deal. Carol Levenson, an analyst with the research firm Gimme Credit L.L.C., said the acquisition could damage Pfizer's credit outlook.
"We don't see why Wyeth is a solution to Pfizer's problems - it has plenty of lingering legal and patent-expiration problems of its own," she said in a note to clients. Wyeth last year lost patent protection on the antibiotic Zosyn and the heartburn drug Protonix.
Analysts said a slight thaw in the credit markets recently might have pushed the talks forward.
Wyeth shares rose $4.91, or 12.6 percent, closing yesterday at $43.74.
Pfizer shares closed up 24 cents, at $17.45.
Friday, January 23, 2009
I predicted Pfizer buying Wyeth in an article I wrote August 2007 for Brandweek.
Today the WSJ had the front page headline, Pfizer in Talks to Buy Wyeth.
If you'd like to know what I wrote about this in August 2007, read Pfizer should buy Wyeth. Here's why. I ended the story, "So stay tuned. Pfizer + Wyeth may very well become true."
If you'd like to know what I wrote about this in August 2007, read Pfizer should buy Wyeth. Here's why. I ended the story, "So stay tuned. Pfizer + Wyeth may very well become true."
When John Thain became Merrill Lynch’s CEO in early 2008, he hired Michael S. Smith Design to revamp his office suite . . .
When John Thain became Merrill Lynch’s CEO in early 2008, he hired Michael S. Smith Design to revamp his office suite, spending approximately $1.22 million.
The following is a list of the items in his suite:
Area Rug $87,784
Mahogany Pedestal Table $25,713
19th Century Credenza $68,179
Pendant Light Furniture $19,751
4 Pairs of Curtains $28,091
Pair of Guest Chairs $87,784
George IV Chair $18,468
6 Wall Sconces $2,741
Parchment Waste Can $1,405
Roman Shade Fabric $10,967
Roman Shades $7,315
Coffee Table $5,852
Commode on Legs $35,115
Thain also paid his driver $230,000 for one years work, which included the driver's $85,000 salary and bonus of $18,000, and another $128,000 in over-time pay.
Yesterday Thain lost his job after having used taxpayer money to pay $4 billion in bonuses and surprised new owner Bank of America with $14 billion in unexpected losses, necessitating more taxpayer bailout money.
The following is a list of the items in his suite:
Area Rug $87,784
Mahogany Pedestal Table $25,713
19th Century Credenza $68,179
Pendant Light Furniture $19,751
4 Pairs of Curtains $28,091
Pair of Guest Chairs $87,784
George IV Chair $18,468
6 Wall Sconces $2,741
Parchment Waste Can $1,405
Roman Shade Fabric $10,967
Roman Shades $7,315
Coffee Table $5,852
Commode on Legs $35,115
Thain also paid his driver $230,000 for one years work, which included the driver's $85,000 salary and bonus of $18,000, and another $128,000 in over-time pay.
Yesterday Thain lost his job after having used taxpayer money to pay $4 billion in bonuses and surprised new owner Bank of America with $14 billion in unexpected losses, necessitating more taxpayer bailout money.
How much does America hate the companies getting bailouts?
This much. Below is an ad Chrysler ran in the WSJ and other major newspapers. They also made the mistake of placing the ad on the Chrysler blog, where people could respond. This is what happened . . . of course, Chrysler has now deleted the blog post, but we traced it for you:
This is Google's cache of http://blog.chryslerllc.com/blog.do?id=564&p=entry. It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on 20 Jan 2009 21:58:02 GMT. The current page could have changed in the meantime. Learn more
Thank You America
Blog Editor
Comments (249)
Thank you for investing in Chrysler - America's Car Company.
Chrysler is committed to:
Providing cars and trucks you want to buy, enjoy driving, and will want to buy again.
Delivering products with the best quality and value in our Company's history.
Improving fuel economy to support Americas energy security and environmental sustainability.
The United States is home to 74% of our employees and over 3,300 dealers in communities across this country. Of every dollar we spend, 78% is spent here at home. On behalf of the 1 million people who depend on Chrysler for their livelihoods, thank you for investing in Chrysler, and America.
Bob Nardelli
Chairman and CEO, Chrysler LLC
Note: This ad broke 12/22 in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today and a digital online version breaks on 12/23.
Comments (249) | Permalink
Tagged with Corporate Business, Advertising
add to Technorati favorites digg this Post this article to de.licio.us
Comments
Hey Crysler! You're not welcome. You took my hard earned tax dollars without congressional approval. This is not the time for a "thank you." This would be a good time for a refund...and an apology. http://rightklik.net
Posted Dec 27, 2008, 3:19 PM by RightKlik.net
Mr. Nardelli,
It takes a man with a whole lotta chutzpah to thank a person for investing in a company when they had zero voice in the matter.
My elected representatives decided 'no'. The executive branch decided 'yes' through means that might be legal but frankly smell like rotten fish.
You may certainly get my money this way, but you will never see a dime of my money voluntarily spent on any of your products.
Brian Dunbar
Neenah, Wisconsin
Posted Dec 27, 2008, 3:20 PM by bdunbar
Mr Nardelli, Fire your PR and advertising teams and execs immediately. We the People did not want to see any more ads and money wasted on ads, be it from Chrysler, et al, or from your own pocket. You should have put up a website thanking the people and just submitted it to various online news aggregators for free. Once again, I am pained to see you are demonstrating a lack of common sense and fiscal responsibility. We supported the bailout of the car companies, even in the face of the horrendously mismanaged and secretive bailout of banks, and you stlil throw money away in the name of your company. Time to wake up. Sincerely, Matt and the rest of the Internet.
Posted Dec 27, 2008, 3:20 PM by dezmd
I have to say this ad disappointed me. First of all, do you need to spend your precious dollars on expenisve newspaper space? Second of all, it's hard to say "America" is really responsible for granting the bridge loans. One survey said that 61% of Americans were against it. Congress was working against the will of the voters. Let me go through each of the three points: "Providing cars and trucks you want to buy, enjoy driving, and will want to buy again." Well, I wanted to buy a Stratus in 2004. I bought it and enjoy driving it. However, I would not buy a Chrysler again beacuse the new products are lower quality and less visually appealing than their predecessors. "Delivering products with the best quality and value in our Company's history." Based on what I've seen and heard, Chrysler vehicle quality is lower than it was a few years ago. "Improving fuel economy to support Americas energy security and environmental sustainability." Chrysler's current full-size and compact vehicles are LESS fuel efficient than they were in 2003. Chrysler built the cars of my dreams in the 1990s but the latest models are a real let down. Chrysler does not deserve aid until it can present compelling new-generation vehicles. Putting battery packs in the current models dosen't count.
Posted Dec 27, 2008, 3:20 PM by Mwhite
Your resignation and the resignations of senior executives who have mismanaged the business would have been much more appropriate.
Posted Dec 29, 2008, 8:03 PM by California Initiative
Dear Mr. Nardelli and the "over one million people who depend on Chrysler" - You've got some nerve to thank us for our forced "investment" when we didn't want it to happen in the first place. Isn't forced or coerced investment akin to robbery? Taking one's money against one's will? Hmmm . . . . The very thought that MY money is going to go to some union lackey's pockets just makes me queasy. You should've filed for bankruptcy just like any other business in your position would have to. And that would've given you the opportunity to unshackle yourselves from the ridiculous union contracts that you signed on to. You've got two major issues to fix: Unions and quality products. If you'd listen to your customers and NOT the media and marketing types, you'd fix your product issues. And the unions . . . sheesh, get out of that racket! Notice the plants in the South where unions aren't that prominent don't have the same issues as the ones up North? Let's see what happens when MY business tanks. Will YOU throw cash at me? I don't think so. So, in conclusion - to hell with you and your company. Any business that would go begging to the government for a handout has no shame, and deserves to fail. File for Bankruptcy, or crumble!
Posted Dec 29, 2008, 8:03 PM by Richard S.
Mr. Nardelli; You do not need to thank the general public. Bring the company back to profitability and pay back the bridge loan is all the thanks we need. Save your dollars to put into incentive programs to help those that want your product. Don't feel you need to waste it on advertising. Call a news conference and get your voice heard for free if you feel the need again. Open an interactive website for the American people to contact you and get honest answers. Allow us an avenue to express ourselves and really be heard by you. Let us tell you what we want, and build American cars based around that. Its time to make Chrysler, "Our Chrysler", and bring back "Quality is Job One" again. Give me a shout if you need any help. I love my Jeep and will do whatever it takes to continue to support the product that gives me a sense of stability and security I need every time I get in it!
Posted Dec 29, 2008, 8:03 PM by TNAPWife
Mr. Home Depot has now shown that he can take extravagance to another extreme high. Why in the world are you thanking people that didn't want this. You need to spend the money you spent on this ad to bailout one of your line workers whose house is about to go into default. Pay it forward Nardelli we don't need to your hypocrisy!
Posted Dec 29, 2008, 8:03 PM by loco4obx
I'm speechless. And I'm saddened that a corporate management team is so inept at understanding public opinion. Some advice: issue a press release stating that you regret that you made a mistake using taxpayers' money in this manner.
Posted Dec 29, 2008, 8:03 PM by beachwriter
Mr. Nardelli; You do not need to thank the general public. Bring the company back to profitability and pay back the bridge loan is all the thanks we need. Save your dollars to put into incentive programs to help those that want your product. Don't feel you need to waste it on advertising. Call a news conference and get your voice heard for free if you feel the need again. Open an interactive website for the American people to contact you and get honest answers. Allow us an avenue to express ourselves and really be heard by you. Let us tell you what we want, and build American cars based around that. Its time to make Chrysler, "Our Chrysler", and bring back "Quality is Job One" again. Give me a shout if you need any help. I love my Jeep and will do whatever it takes to continue to support the product that gives me a sense of stability and security I need every time I get in it!
Posted Dec 29, 2008, 8:05 PM by TNAPWife
I've been an avid Mopar fan for many years. I've purchased several new vehicles over the past five years and noticed the decline in quality and fuel mileage. The exception has been my 2007 Charger Daytona. The interior design and materials are great and the Hemi gets 26 mpg/hwy! This is a 4000lb car, so tell me why the Avenger, with a 4 cylinder, can only muster 30 mpg/hwy??? This is where Chrylser has failed. Your six cylinder and four cylinder enignes are not meeting the foriegn competitors fuel economy. Heck, Chrylser's four and six cylinders had better ratings ten years ago! You need to focus on two areas; high performance and economy vehicles. Six or seven vehcile max. You've built a following with the Hemi in the Ram, Challenger and Charger, your Mopar parts division and Jeep. Get the ENVI vehicles buillt ASAP and market them NOW to help change the public's perception of your company as only building Ram trucks. These are the only commericals I see anymore! I can't even remember the last time I saw a TV ad for the Avenger/Sebring! And when you advertise the HEMI, mention the fuel mileage... everyone thinks they get 10 miles to the gallon at best. You can make this company succeed. Just wake up and be smart about your future plans. Kurt B Omaha, NE
Posted Dec 29, 2008, 8:05 PM by PlumKrz70
Bob Nardelli - thanking Americans for stealing their money is NOT something to boast about on your website. The American public DID speak when we choose to NOT buy your cars. Why not spend the money by showing us something compelling that people would "want" to buy. I have NEVER hear anyone excited about "buying a chrysler." You have no brand strength and this current "Thank You" ad will further your branding problems.
Posted Dec 30, 2008, 11:44 AM by Alvin P. Sams
My response to being forced to bail Chrysler out was to immediately purchase a FORD Focus and I will NEVER buy any car that Chrysler has anything to do with. This ad you ran "thanking" us was an example of you wasting OUR money.
Posted Dec 30, 2008, 11:44 AM by redwood tree
Dear Chrysler, I'd like to thank you. You have now completely converted me to a 100% foreign car owner from this point forward. I was, emphasis on was, a proud owner of a 2006 Dodge Ram Quad-Cab 4X4 with a Hemi. As you are well aware it is among the more expensive models of vehicles you sell. After seeing the parent comapny of Dodge falter and beg for money from the US Tax payers, I am no longer proud to own this vehicle. In fact, I will finish paying off my loan and proceed to my nearest Mini Dealership or Nissan Dealership and buy my next car there when it comes time. Why? Not because I don't like the truck. I do not approve of the money that was given to you by our President. I do not approve of the slap in the face I felt when I read your ad. Why did you need to take a bail out? Poor management. This ad just goes to show that you and your company has not learned anything, and like the rest of the US I am upset. This opportunity was squandered, by you and your incompetance. For the sake of my tax dollars I hope you succeed with a restructure like the late 70s early 80s when you received your first bail-out. However, with the poor decisions of this ad I forsee a bad investment on the horizon by the US Government.
Posted Dec 30, 2008, 11:44 AM by Jasen Hicks
Obviously nothing has changed. Chrysler is still making stupid decisions by wasting its stolen taxpayer money on useless ads. I will never, ever even consider buying a Chrysler. Chrysler makes nothing but JUNK, and has rightfully earned its poor reputation. Mr. Nardelli, do yourself and Chrysler a favor and resign.
Posted Dec 30, 2008, 11:44 AM by BuyJapanese
Thank You? Kiss mine you looters. I had ZERO choice in the matter. The money was taken from me by FORCE of GOVERNMENT and given to you. Ads like this reaffirm my decesion to buy a Honda last year. Bottom line Chrysler- I WILL NEVER BUY FROM A COMPANY THAT POINTS A GUN TO MY HEAD AND THEN SAYS THANKS. This ad infuraties me. Rot in hell scumbags.
Posted Dec 30, 2008, 8:03 PM by Lede Agenda
Though I will not go as far as to demand the resignation of the upper management at Chrysler, I have to say I am quite disappointed in this ad. The most poignant point is in reference to the audacious claim "Providing cars and trucks you want to buy, enjoy driving, and will want to buy again." I am a Jeep, owner, I have owned Jeep vehicles since I was 16 years old, and would like to own another one. I along with so many others would like a 4 cyl diesel Jeep wrangler. This has been mentioned a ridiculous amount of times in the Blog as well as many serious Jeep forums on the internet. Just do a web search for "Diesel Jeep" and you will see how many people have turned their Jeeps into an Isuzu, a Nissan or a Volvo, because the wanted a small efficient Diesel engine in their Jeep. You produce the Jeeps we want but don't offer them in the US market due to claims of emissions concerns, yet the 6 cyl in the Grand Cherokee seems to be fine. You make the J8 which is probably every Jeep owners Dream Jeep, throw in a manual transmission instead of the auto, and it would be the exact definition of my Dream Jeep. I don't appreciate being thanked for something I don't control, and being told "Providing cars and trucks you want to buy, enjoy driving, and will want to buy again." When you turn a deaf ear to everyone asking for something quite specific and well within the means of the company. Alex Current YJ, and former XJ owner.
Posted Dec 30, 2008, 8:03 PM by Alex
What a great way to spend the taxpayer money!!! Spend hundreds of thousands if not a milliion to put full page ads in news papers all over the country. The NYT add alone cost over $200,000!!! I will never buy a Chrystler vehicle!! You guys suck!!! If I make mistakes in my finincal situation I have to fix them. You should bite the bullet and fix your own problems.
Posted Dec 30, 2008, 8:03 PM by cherky76
I heard about your CEO's ad buy in major newspapers "thanking America" for the recent loans.
What an absurd waste of money!
Make efficient cars with good MPG. The most fuel efficient car in the Chrysler lineup is the 2009 Chrysler Sebring at 21/30 highway.
(http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/2008car1tablef.jsp?id=25964)
Ridiculous!
In the meantime, thanking the American taxpayer for being the victim of a blatant theft, with the money you stole, is quite a bit much.
Good work. Now I wouldn't buy a Chrysler if they didn't suck.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 8:25 AM by andrewc
You suck Chrysler / hope you all lose your jobs and go bankrupt!!!!!!!!
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 8:25 AM by THAnkMYA$$$$$$$$$$$$$
I have only had Chrysler vehicles, currently own a 2007 Sebring and 2005 Pacifica. However these are my last Chrysler vehicles, I cannot believe the waste of money in this ad buy. This ad is a huge percentage of wasted tax money.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by KKF925
Mr. Nardelli,
While I am not a fan of US steel I do appreciate your point of view, I do believe that GM is more desreving of the low interest loan BUT as you both contribute to the US economy and therefor the WORLDs I can forgive the actions taken in these troubled times... I understand the pressure placed upon your company to produce eco-terrorist vehicles ie: hybrids and the like even though they contribute very little (apart from marketing jazz) to your bottom line... I am happy to see that you MAY now survive to fight another day as we do need to preserve the few remaining clasic marques that still live on,,, RIP : Olds, Triumph, Wools, Stud... etc.... desperate time and all that aside if you can drop those "baggage brands" to others (Chine/India) who can manage the risk then I belive that your TWO real brands (plus one new one) can rise from the ashes and take their place in history. PT MUST be a brand in it's own... maybe not in the US but worldwide..... think Scion...... grow the fun, low price retro and "cough cough" hybrid fun! 300 is great but old, major refresh to recover sales, hybrid if you must.... but only if you must.... Strength with Mitsi's small A-B-C is required with new tophats but better Hyudai engines will help... Quality will sell. see FORD.... PS: your marketing guys are your weak point; please think twice before spending any money no matter many warm fuzzies you think you may earn from the US people, you are a begger (no offence) please do not forget this as the tax payer will not. Regards, Friendly Forigner
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Paradox
Are you kidding me? Spending nearly a quarter million dollars on ONE ad, much less countless nationwide??? Good lord, you people just don't get it and honestly deserve to fail miserably. There is no Lee Iococca to save Chrysler now, and thank goodness for that.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by ChryslerDoesntGetIT
Bunch of scumbags...Nardopey and Cerberdolts can stick it...the VAST majority of the American public is against any sort of bailout for you or GM and yet you steal our money anyway...Are you and the other CEOs and investment bankers going to come bail me out when I lose my job?? Didn't think so...I'll NEVER buy a Chrysler or GM product--EVER--and either will any of my current or future family members I will make sure of it...
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by spalind
Bunch of scumbags...Nardopey and Cerberdolts can stick it...the VAST majority of the American public is against any sort of bailout for you or GM and yet you steal our money anyway...Are you and the other CEOs and investment bankers going to come bail me out when I lose my job?? Didn't think so...I'll NEVER buy a Chrysler or GM product--EVER--and either will any of my current or future family members I will make sure of it...
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by spalind
Dear Mr. Nardelli, Those of us that were not mislead by the media in calling the loan a bailout are happy that your company and all the subsidiaries now have the chance to right the wrongs of the past. Now your focus needs to be reducing the power that the UAW holds over your industry! Foreign manufacturers quality has declined since plants have opened in the U.S.... why..? Not because of lazy workers but because of the UAW demanding their ridiculous contractual obligations! EVERYONE needs to be held accountable and eliminating some of the strangle-hold the unions have on your company will help. American cars have the quality the competitors have only the entirely mislead by the media claiming they don't! Unfortunately the majority of the people are lemmings and will only listen to what they're told so it's not surprising that perception's reality! Keep building great vehicles and keep your heads up! Normally, as a rule, the only people that will leave a comment are those with a complaint... the same people that don't understand you received a loan, to be repaid, and NOT a bailout! Good day!
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Vinny Fins
Dear Mr. Nardelli, Those of us that were not mislead by the media in calling the loan a bailout are happy that your company and all the subsidiaries now have the chance to right the wrongs of the past. Now your focus needs to be reducing the power that the UAW holds over your industry! Foreign manufacturers quality has declined since plants have opened in the U.S.... why..? Not because of lazy workers but because of the UAW demanding their ridiculous contractual obligations! EVERYONE needs to be held accountable and eliminating some of the strangle-hold the unions have on your company will help. American cars have the quality the competitors have only the entirely mislead by the media claiming they don't! Unfortunately the majority of the people are lemmings and will only listen to what they're told so it's not surprising that perception's reality! Keep building great vehicles and keep your heads up! Normally, as a rule, the only people that will leave a comment are those with a complaint... the same people that don't understand you received a loan, to be repaid, and NOT a bailout! Good day!
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Vinny Fins
What a total waste of money. That useless ad money could have been put into research and development to make better quality and fuel efficient vehicles. This has got to be the most expensive thank you card ever written, providing better products would be just as sufficient.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by zetasoul
What a total waste of money. That useless ad money could have been put into research and development to make better quality and fuel efficient vehicles. This has got to be the most expensive thank you card ever written, providing better products would be just as sufficient.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by zetasoul
What a total waste of money. That useless ad money could have been put into research and development to make better quality and fuel efficient vehicles. This has got to be the most expensive thank you card ever written, providing better products would be just as sufficient.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by zetasoul
Dear Mr. Nardelli, Those of us that were not mislead by the media in calling the loan a bailout are happy that your company and all the subsidiaries now have the chance to right the wrongs of the past. Now your focus needs to be reducing the power that the UAW holds over your industry! Foreign manufacturers quality has declined since plants have opened in the U.S.... why..? Not because of lazy workers but because of the UAW demanding their ridiculous contractual obligations! EVERYONE needs to be held accountable and eliminating some of the strangle-hold the unions have on your company will help. American cars have the quality the competitors have only the entirely mislead by the media claiming they don't! Unfortunately the majority of the people are lemmings and will only listen to what they're told so it's not surprising that perception's reality! Keep building great vehicles and keep your heads up! Normally, as a rule, the only people that will leave a comment are those with a complaint... the same people that don't understand you received a loan, to be repaid, and NOT a bailout! Good day!
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Vinny Fins
What a total waste of money. That useless ad money could have been put into research and development to make better quality and fuel efficient vehicles. This has got to be the most expensive thank you card ever written, providing better products would be just as sufficient.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by zetasoul
What a total waste of money. That useless ad money could have been put into research and development to make better quality and fuel efficient vehicles. This has got to be the most expensive thank you card ever written, providing better products would be just as sufficient.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by zetasoul
Chrysler used to be such a great car company. I've had the sad experience of working with them as part of their supply chain for the past couple of decades, and I've watched them go from a first class innovator that treated its suppliers and customers with the care and the respect that anybody who has a stake in the enterprise deserves, to easy pickings when times got tough. Just as Chrysler chips away at content and cheapens its cars in ways they hope the customer won't notice, they continually beat up their suppliers on cost and search for ever cheaper stuff in China or India. I used to love owning Chryslers and being associated with their business in some small way. Honestly, Bob, you guys broke my heart before this bailout business ever happened. And, to make things right, imagine that you literally scrape by like the rest of us. Your paycheck runs out at the end of the month, and your kids' college tuition keeps you up at night. Then, imagine that your second biggest investment (a car) will require sacrifices in groceries, entertainment, etc for about five years. Honestly, it's a big chunk of your monthly outlay, so you are hoping to make it last eight or ten years. Are you really going to gamble on a Compass, and hope that the quality and residual won't get you later, or are you going to play it safe and buy a Honda CRV? For real folks making real wages, buying a car is a big deal. It would be nice to buy American for the good of the country, but I'm sure most people have to do the best thing for their families first. A lot of people have gone out the door, and the only way to get them back is to build a better product than Honda. After all, if they're pretty happy with their Hondas, they won't give you guys the time of day otherwise. Come to think of it, you could say the same thing about your supply base, which these days won't deal with you unless they have to. Do yourself a favor Bob, and buy yourself a Compass and a CRV. Drive them on alternating days, and take notes about each. Tell your engineers and purchasing folks what you find out. Then, you can make good on your promises.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Mikey
Chrysler used to be such a great car company. I've had the sad experience of working with them as part of their supply chain for the past couple of decades, and I've watched them go from a first class innovator that treated its suppliers and customers with the care and the respect that anybody who has a stake in the enterprise deserves, to easy pickings when times got tough. Just as Chrysler chips away at content and cheapens its cars in ways they hope the customer won't notice, they continually beat up their suppliers on cost and search for ever cheaper stuff in China or India. I used to love owning Chryslers and being associated with their business in some small way. Honestly, Bob, you guys broke my heart before this bailout business ever happened. And, to make things right, imagine that you literally scrape by like the rest of us. Your paycheck runs out at the end of the month, and your kids' college tuition keeps you up at night. Then, imagine that your second biggest investment (a car) will require sacrifices in groceries, entertainment, etc for about five years. Honestly, it's a big chunk of your monthly outlay, so you are hoping to make it last eight or ten years. Are you really going to gamble on a Compass, and hope that the quality and residual won't get you later, or are you going to play it safe and buy a Honda CRV? For real folks making real wages, buying a car is a big deal. It would be nice to buy American for the good of the country, but I'm sure most people have to do the best thing for their families first. A lot of people have gone out the door, and the only way to get them back is to build a better product than Honda. After all, if they're pretty happy with their Hondas, they won't give you guys the time of day otherwise. Come to think of it, you could say the same thing about your supply base, which these days won't deal with you unless they have to. Do yourself a favor Bob, and buy yourself a Compass and a CRV. Drive them on alternating days, and take notes about each. Tell your engineers and purchasing folks what you find out. Then, you can make good on your promises.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Mikey
Chrysler used to be such a great car company. I've had the sad experience of working with them as part of their supply chain for the past couple of decades, and I've watched them go from a first class innovator that treated its suppliers and customers with the care and the respect that anybody who has a stake in the enterprise deserves, to easy pickings when times got tough. Just as Chrysler chips away at content and cheapens its cars in ways they hope the customer won't notice, they continually beat up their suppliers on cost and search for ever cheaper stuff in China or India. I used to love owning Chryslers and being associated with their business in some small way. Honestly, Bob, you guys broke my heart before this bailout business ever happened. And, to make things right, imagine that you literally scrape by like the rest of us. Your paycheck runs out at the end of the month, and your kids' college tuition keeps you up at night. Then, imagine that your second biggest investment (a car) will require sacrifices in groceries, entertainment, etc for about five years. Honestly, it's a big chunk of your monthly outlay, so you are hoping to make it last eight or ten years. Are you really going to gamble on a Compass, and hope that the quality and residual won't get you later, or are you going to play it safe and buy a Honda CRV? For real folks making real wages, buying a car is a big deal. It would be nice to buy American for the good of the country, but I'm sure most people have to do the best thing for their families first. A lot of people have gone out the door, and the only way to get them back is to build a better product than Honda. After all, if they're pretty happy with their Hondas, they won't give you guys the time of day otherwise. Come to think of it, you could say the same thing about your supply base, which these days won't deal with you unless they have to. Do yourself a favor Bob, and buy yourself a Compass and a CRV. Drive them on alternating days, and take notes about each. Tell your engineers and purchasing folks what you find out. Then, you can make good on your promises.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Mikey
I signed up just to add comments in response to your ad of properly slapping the American public in the face with insensitivity and pride. Money that was "taken" from the American people wasted on advertising thanking the people the money was taken from is audacious. I don't know whether to loathe you for your insensitivity in the matter or praise you for your boldness. Clearly the move this advertising campaign was dreamed up and approved by individuals who has not contact with the average American. The problem with your company and that of many American companies is the ridiculous financial separation of upper management from that of the average middle income American. Your outrageous income and ability to choose to isolate yourselves mentally, financially, and emotionally from the consumer you serve has lead to the financial ruin of your company. However, I'm sure this is of no concern to you or your upper management team because even if your company fail, you will have your golden parachute stitched with the money taken from the pockets of people who are loosing their homes, their jobs, and their ability to provide for their family (some of these people work for your company). SHAME! I wish no major company to fail. Not because I would like to see your monetary status to succeed, but primarily so that those who depend on their incomes to live from working on the line at the bottom or the middle to continue to work. You want to thank the American people? Do you really want to know how to change public perception about the management of your company and the direction that you want to go? Forgo your executive pay and that of all executives until the company returns to profitability. Reduce upper management pay by 50%. Cut any upper or executive management positions that has been fruitless (you know, your friends). It looks and is foolish for millionaires to continue to earn pay for managing a company that needs a bailout. Do the right thing and either quit or forgo your pay and actually put forth effort without pay until your company earns the money to pay you and your executives for their talents of running a successful business. Yes, I am American and No you sir, are not welcome. Now go do what's right. Directions above!
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Folk
Way to blow hundreds of thousands of dollars on a useless ad campaign that will surely only worsen your public image. We weren't buying your cars before because they are all gas guzzling, unreliable, uninteresting cars that look like they were styled by the coleman plastic cooler division, inside and out. So then you steal our money through the government so you can waste more of it on useless ads, and you have the audacity to remind us all about it. Go to hell Chrysler. I was not going to buy one of your vehicles before, and I certainly am never going to do so after this.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by ARH
I guess chrysler is also commited to stealing our money and then wasting it on stuff like this. Its unbelievable you take money from people that worked hard for it, and then turn around and throw it at a marketing campaign to show 'us' that you are 'americas car company'. Well, if you didnt know, no one wants your trash, thats why you (and other american autos) are going under. Pay us back what you stole in interest, and then make something that doesnt suck if you want to stay in business.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by guyinva
I had a Dodge Caliber as a rental and it was the worst car I've ever driven, inside and out it is both poorly designed from a functional and aesthetic perspective. After 2 weeks in that car, terrified to drive in rain or at night, I thought it was a stunning example of why Chrysler makes horrible products and will inevitably fail as a company. Then, you hear RIDICULOUS things like this. Why would anyone buy a new Chrysler, even at half off prices, when you could get a CPO german or asian car for the same price that is exponentially better.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by nnnick
Thanks Nardellu, my current Dakota will be my last Chysler ever. A few weeks ago I bought my wife a nissan because the even though she liked the calibers I refuse to buy from a company as badly mismanaged as Chrysler. My next truck will be a Ford.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by jessbaka
I had a Dodge Caliber as a rental and it was the worst car I've ever driven, inside and out it is both poorly designed from a functional and aesthetic perspective. After 2 weeks in that car, terrified to drive in rain or at night, I thought it was a stunning example of why Chrysler makes horrible products and will inevitably fail as a company. Then, you hear RIDICULOUS things like this. Why would anyone buy a new Chrysler, even at half off prices, when you could get a CPO german or asian car for the same price that is exponentially better.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by nnnick
I signed up just to add comments in response to your ad of properly slapping the American public in the face with insensitivity and pride. Money that was "taken" from the American people wasted on advertising thanking the people the money was taken from is audacious. I don't know whether to loathe you for your insensitivity in the matter or praise you for your boldness. Clearly the move this advertising campaign was dreamed up and approved by individuals who has no contact with the average American. The problem with your company and that of many American companies is the ridiculous financial separation of upper management from that of the average middle income American. Your outrageous income and ability to choose to isolate yourselves mentally, financially, and emotionally from the consumer you serve has lead to the financial ruin of your company. However, I'm sure this is of no concern to you or your upper management team because even if your company fail, you will have your golden parachute stitched with the money taken from the pockets of people who are loosing their homes, their jobs, and their ability to provide for their family (some of these people work for your company). SHAME! I wish no major company to fail. Not because I would like to see your monetary status to succeed, but primarily so that those who depend on their incomes to live from working on the line at the bottom or the middle to continue to work. You want to thank the American people? Do you really want to know how to change public perception about the management of your company and the direction that you want to go? Forgo your executive pay and that of all executives until the company returns to profitability. Reduce upper management pay by 50%. Cut any upper or executive management positions that has been fruitless (you know, your friends). It looks and is foolish for millionaires to continue to earn pay for managing a company that needs a bailout. Do the right thing and either quit or forgo your pay and actually put forth effort without pay until your company earns the money to pay you and your executives for their talents of running a successful business. Yes, I am American and No you sir, are not welcome. Now go do what's right. Directions above!
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Folk
We were forced to help you. Thank us by acting responsible for a change. This ad is the equivalent to salt poured on an open wound. If you had any common sense, you would be ashamed.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Ironhorse
We were forced to help you. Thank us by acting responsible for a change. This ad is the equivalent to salt poured on an open wound. If you had any common sense, you would be ashamed.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Ironhorse
Dear Chrysler LLC, Kiss my taxpayer back-side! You are not welcome, ever! Thank you for killing off a car (Stratus) that was one of best American mid-sizes! Thank you for the Caliber, a noisey, chincey interior, POS! Thank you for the Avenger, wow...back to the Stratus please! Thank you for the mini-van...oh wait that is the only thing you have going for you! Thank you for taking my money and blowing it on this add. Thank you for moving many of your factories out of our country, even though cheaper labor is within our borders, ASK HONDA OR TOYOTA! On a good note, thank you for knowing how to make an engine, how about a quality ride to go with it? Finally, thank you for taking our money and never being able to repay it, as the Pentastar will fade faster than a supernova. Off the Honda dealership I go, to trade in my Dodge and never look back!
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by penta_nomore
Clueless!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by comdial
Let's break this out into chronological order beginning will the fall of the Town and Country: 1. Soccer Moms ditch the Minivans for CUVs, Pacifica debuts about 2 year later 2. Plymouth killed, PT Cruiser added which is a hit 3. Despite some profitable models, still posted a huge loss in 2006, about the same time the Crossfire was bombing 4. Chrysler renews Crossfire model despite being one of the worst selling roadsters on the market 5. Fuel prices starts to rise, Chrysler focuses on the launch of the Challenger model 6. Cerebrus, a private firm, buys 80% of Chrysler to ease finacial woes 7. Chrysler receives a second chance, continues to ignore fuel prices and focus on ineffecient, rear wheel drive models 8. The shit hits the fan in Summer of 2008 when gas prices hit a record high and their most efficient vehicle is also the worst reviewed, the Sebring. 9. Chrysler follows the big three to congress that fall to do some panhandling. What no one seems to notice is that they are now owned by a company with billions of dollars. This is the equivalant of showing up for a loan with no paperwork on your current assets but arrive in a private jet. Oh wait, that happened too.... 9. Chrysler (or the US taxpayers) takes out thousands of dollars worth of ads to thank US citizens for their help. 10. America responds, "We didn't want to help you, we don't want your cars, and congress didn't even have to approve this bailout for it to happen. It took a president with the lowest approval rating ever to do it."
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by skaspy
Did we pay for this or did Cerebrus? How come no one noticed that this company is owned by a firm that has billions of dollars?
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by skaspy
Depending on placement, full page ads placed in the Wall Street journal can cost over $200,000, not to mention the other publications where this ad was placed. So, at least a quarter of a million dollars of our money was spent on an ad thanking us for our contribution. A contribution that the majority did not want to make. This ad screams "Hey, look what we are doing with your tax dollars, lol." This ad is yet another example of frivolous and clueless spending. Thank us by using OUR money to make your company profitable, not with a meaningless ad. As the old saying goes,"Actions speak louder than words."
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 2:21 PM by Atlantis
I too registered today to simply express my disappointment in the managerial staff at Chrysler LLC. Misappropriated spending and a failed outlook for more effecient vehicles has severely impacted the American consumer confidence in supporting your products. I try and remain nuetral for the sake being an American but Chrysler has really forced their hand in this matter with their "Mr. Me Too" attitude threatening reductions in work force and plant closures to tap into the bailout fund. Chrysler management needs an overhaul. Why pay one executive 9 million dollars annually who refuses to "jet commute" to Congress and set a true example of an effort to reduce spending before Congress? Why pay another executive just as much if not more who isn't doing s#!t? The subordinates are true to the grind of survival. Chrysler has lost a alot of basic values which We, the American people learn as children; lead by example, do unto others and others do unto you, and most of all - COMMON SENSE. After 9-11 I swore to never purchase another import vehicle but guess what - you just shipped my a$$ right back across the world to support the very people who plan to take us off the face of planet earth. Let me define MORON for you per Websters - a very stupid person!!!!! This case in point being you - Chrysler. Go cry to your billionaire mamie, Cerebus, for some extra cash to piss off.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 2:21 PM by The KarFanatik
Well a lot of what has been said here on the page is agreeable but on the same token we have to look at the bigger side of our US work force. We need all the jobs we can get in this country because Bush is losing our ass and we are losing jobs right and left. Hey look around you how many empty stores do you have by you? I have 14 just on the north side of town. Im glad that some company’s are trying to stay open and fight for our country. Now as for making the right business decisions every time that will never happen I don’t care who they are, Yes even Wal-mart has done stupid things. Did any of you know that they spent millions on a pet salons and close them shortly after the were open because people were bring their pets into the store.. Duh.. Of course that is going to happen. SO we have to take their mistakes and success and hope that we all learn from them just as we do at home, or more people will be out of a jobs and them less people will be working in the US and that is what none of us want. I’m American and I want to live like one … I’m tried Of seeing MADE IN CHINA and MADE IN MEXICO. How about YOU?
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 2:21 PM by fishguy_80
Nardelli = Fail.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 3:08 PM by Lsearles
Not very smart --- if you were, you would not be sopending tax payer money on self gratification -- stop adveritsing and start saving your pennies --- you have a lot of poeple to lay off when you blow through money that Bush gave --- Obama will want it back!
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 4:42 PM by bostonmccoy
Okay: Guess I'm the weird one, but I think it was okay to thank the American people. After all, at least you THOUGHT and APPRECIATED it enough to express gratitude. What about AIG and the others, who took those extravagant vacations after their TRUE bailout??? Here's to a much better 2009, for us all.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by jilly
I think the Thank you was a great idea. It would be nice for every person connected to employment in the automotive industry to say thank you to every person driving an american made car. Thank you to those who BUY AMERICAN!
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by Corie
I OWN a dodge, had my choice of anything out there....chevy leaves you standing on the side of the road, ford is ok but my dodge has made me a happy owner. I have owned 2, the first one a tree fell on or I'd still have it too. If your wanted to "save the country" then why are you even on this site? I want to keep our jobs here in America, but you saying things that don't even pass as making sense make me sick. The ad made an american company money, yet your complaining. I was taught it was proper to thank someone when they help you, not listen to trash talk on thier own site about an ad. Nice manners.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by Sue
#1: Don't thank me - it was NOT my decision.
#2: Now that you have it, stop wasting my money on useless advertising.
#3: Regorganize at your Sr. Exec. level - cut those jobs and salaries BEFORE you cut anything else.
#4: Hire some visionaries who have the courage to make changes and NOT keep everything status quo.
#5: Trim your brands - keep your best, eliminate your worst - now, not later.
#6: Use the 20/80 rule for decision making.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by kwanyinri
UNBELIEVABLE!!! A slap in the face to all Americans.Your ignorance cemented my belief that both your company AND G.M. will ultimately fail. I hope nobody buys your junk. Pay attention Ford, the bitterness over this reward for your incompetence could be the straw that will ultimately break the camel's back. Neither company will get another dime from me!!!
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by grover
To everyone griping about YOUR TAX DOLLARS being used: I'm with the UAW and those are my tax dollars too. THANK YOU MR. NARDELLI, for thanking the public for the LOAN. Its the right thing to do. Mr. Nardelli: thank you for your dedication on Capital Hill. I really respected your knowledge of the situation and humble attitutude. Some of the senators dug into you and you handled it very well. My tax dollars go to alot of welfare recipients, medical care, and food stamps that I will never be eligible for: and I am not complaining. I PRAY Chyrsler gets back on their feet. The Automakers ARE the USA. They set the standard of living wages for all of us. The foreign car makers make what they do because of the USA automakers. You people here do not get it. THE auto industry is failing, not due to the EXECs, simply due to the economy. thanks again, Mr. Nardelli : )
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by mrs beasley
I don't understand the bail out. People can't buy new cars right now. There are to many people out of work. Just who is going to buy? Our tax money should have been spent on thengs to get this country back on track such as Jobs. Also it really makes me mad at you for spending 's that should not be. You should have been thinking about the company instead of how many home you have-jets-bonsus-. I am tired of seeing all the money going into one or two people pockett's and the workers getting screwed. Jobs need to come back to the States. This country has gone to hell in a hand basket. Our Taxes need to go to the people of this country. We need to shut our borders and get our peole back to work.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by Saba20
Had a really incredible 1971 Challenger with Torqueflite behind a 318. It was probably the best car I ever owned, and It managed to squeeze 22 miles from a gallon of gasoline. Several Mopars later they were getting progressively higher in price and lower in quality. I believe it was the result of two major problems: 1) Big business execs who think so much of themselves that the biggest executive decision they make every year is how big a bonus to give themselves, and 2) Lazy union autoworkers who do as little as possible for outrageous wages to turn out inferior products. That caustic combinatiojn brewing and stewing over the past 15 to 20 years, led me to make the decision to stop buying Mopar products. Now I find that I'm being forced by the government to pay for them anyway! WHAT A SLAP IN THE FACE OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC TO BE "THANKED" BY ADS THAT COST HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF THEIR HARD EARNED DOLLARS! No, wait! I have an idea: How about you just give me a car, pay the taxes on it, then send me a check for twenty or thirty thousand dollars and enclose a SASE? Then I'll send you back a really nice thank you note!
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by OkieDave
I bought a 1985 Chrysler LeBaron (well, leased it actually). That turned out to be the smartest move I've ever made, because I got to give it back to you guys after the lease expired. I lost one power window every 7,000 miles, a turbocharger at 21,000 miles, and a head gasket at 51,000 miles just after the warranty expired. To your credit, you (Chrysler, that is) replaced the head gasket under warranty, but come on! How long have cars had head gaskets? You mean to tell me you couldn't make one that lasted 150,000 - 200,000 miles, like they did in the '70's? And whe I go the car back, it had an extra 55 miles on it. I suspect that the sales crew was using my car to run their cocaine delivery, but I can't prove it. But as a mechanic I DO know that yuo don't have to drive a car for 55 miles to see if the head gasket is put on right. I almost got a personalized plate of N8V JUNK, but decided not to spend one more dime on that POS. And the dealer wondered why I ran out of the showroom when I got to give that thing back...
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by Wild Eyed Charlie
The ads may not have been the brightest move in the world, but I do think the intention was correct. When someone does something nice for you it is considered polite to show gratitude, and to me it looks like this was the intention. I suppose the money maybe should have been spent elsewhere, but if you don't say thank you they seem like ingrates. Perhaps these guys should be given a pass on this criticism. They are struggling for survival.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by bigdog1965
"thank us" by giving us a comparatively competitive *QUALITY* product, or thank us by giving a discount if we should choose to buy. for many of us who don't own an American make, but whose taxpayer money is keeping manufacturers afloat, you can thank us by giving something back to charity/community or something else in general.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by xxchimerxx
It wasn't enough for you to run Home Depot into the ground, you had to take down a domestic auto manufacturer down too? Nardelli, you're a piece of work, I often wish American culture mirrored Japanese culture in the generational shame brought about by a family member.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:23 AM by pliablemoose
You really do not get it do you? Honestly I am looking at a Kia after almost 20 years of driving a Chrysler van and mostly because you waste money on things like this. It is time to have you close your doors... or maybe for someone like Kia to buy you out and dump the management that makes decisions like this. Bob Furr
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:23 AM by robear1053
It looks like nothing has changed. Goodby Chrysler. This is the exact reason most business fail, not because of the employees, but because of poor management of business and money.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 11:44 AM by Moparbroken
No they don't get it. After I made the mistake of buying a 97 dodge ram cc which was a giant pile of garbage, problematic at every turn I gave up on dodge. The dealer couldn't fix it and calling their corporate customer service was a joke. Now they take the tax dollars I didn't want to give them and they want to thank me after costing me thousands of dollars already? Hey chrysler there's a reason that a toyota and a honda are sitting in my driveway right now. You and your other domestic car makers have already had your chances with me and you've blown it big time. My kids don't want your stuff either. Collectively the big 3 have cost me thousands of dollars and lots of hours of frustration and wasted time taking your junk back to the dealer for warranty work that shouldn't have been required on a new vehicle. Toyota and honda have never done that to me and I've never had to get a loaner because they had to be kept at the dealer for more than one day. My 08 honda has never been to the dealer for any warranty work. My 06 toyota tundra has never made the transmission shake the truck in reverse and howl like the dodge ram did. Oh and the rear end on my ram howled and after the regional rep had the dealer rebuild the rear end it howled even worse. Chrysler what you should've received from the government was instructions on how to file for bankruptcy. You claim to be american yet you outsource jobs to mexico just like the other two domestic companies. The fact that you are owned by a private investment firm that refuses to give you cash speaks volumes to me.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 11:44 AM by Puffnstuff
Mr. Nardelli, thank you for your hard work and effort into saving an American company. Please pay no attention to the nay sayers who berate Chrysler or your latest Thank You ad. I find these folks upset at the ad are only upset that the loan was approved. They do not understand that this money was already approved and appropriated for the car companies. So their complaints about the money being stolen from them is a joke. They also fail to understand that the auto industry (domestic included) is suffering from poor judgements made during the Clinton Administration. Matter of factly, the economic downturn can be contributed solely to the fact that they forced Banks (under CRA) to make risky loans to underqualified individuals. This single handedly causes a chain effect with almost stopped the banking industry in it's tracks. I hear no one complaining the banks were receiving assistance to keep the banking industry alive and running. This assistance is even being see in other major countries as well. They fail to comprehend that the bridge loan is not a wall to help the auto industry being it has been mismanaged but instead because they realize they mismanaged our government enough to affect the auto industry. This is where the true blame lies, but folks don't want to admit their guy put us in this mess. For those that don't understand, let me put it to you like this. You go to the bank to get out some grocery money and you find out, all the banks have closed, gone out of business, or simply have a sign that reads in the window "No more money." What do you do? You have worked hard, put away and saved your hard earned money, and did everything right, but you are still without cash. You still have to put food on the table and pay your bills, but through no fault of your own, the system broke down affecting how you (personally) could conduct your business. Did you mismanage your personal finances? No....... This is the argument we hear today. The auto industry wasn't granted this bridge loan because it was popular. It was done because it was needed. Many just dont understand the complexity of the issue, the true facts behind what occurred and what is at stake. We know politicians and they would not have given these loans if A) they didn't think they would get it back, B) it was the right thing to do. So thank you from the public. We need to support America and stop blaming American union workers for what they believe is the cause for their lot in life. We should cheer the fine quality of cars we produce at a fair competative price to those of even the best foreign cars. Our domestics have been getting high marks in quality and fuel efficiency however, it is hard to overcome the foreign is better mentality people seem to cling to. Keep up the good work. Keep making cars people want, and you will continue to be successful.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:06 PM by bop_pa
Puffnstuff, if you have Toyota and a Honda in the drive, you must not really have needed a truck, which would make you a posier. Every one I have known who bought a foreign truck has complained about the poor fuel economy, the bad turning radius and ride. Cling to your love of foreign cars, but real car guys will tell you the foreign trucks are the real garbage, just wrapped up in a pretty bow.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:06 PM by bop_pa
I wouldn't have given Chrysler or GM a nickel. I was forced to by our ruling class known as CONgress. For too long you have produced some of the worst cars on the face of the earth. Instead of nature taking it's course and weeding out the weak (Chysler), your poor excuse for a company is put on life support at the taxpayers expense. How does it feel to be a welfare recipient Nardelli?
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:06 PM by ctpatriot
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:06 PM by Stargazer
You are NOT welcome! Chapter 7 liquidation for Chrysler now.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:06 PM by PissedOff!
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:06 PM by AtlasShrugged
You are most emphatically *not* welcome. I didn't invest in Chrysler. To the contrary, in a totally counterdemocratic manner, Chrysler has held a gun to America's head while looting the US Treasury. An investment requires that the investor have at least some hopes of gaining return on their capital. US taxpayers will not see any return because Chrysler, counter to its claimed mission, today produces only garbage. This is no investment; it is a bonfire. Chrysler will be done as soon as these "loans" are due, if not sooner. I will never purchase another Chrysler product as long as I live. I hope my 2000 XJ (which saw a complete suspension/wheel/tire replacement, significant body modification, a complete engine overhaul, a refactoring of the underbody armor kit and the installation of a replacement music/navigation system before it could be called "trail-worthy") lasts forever, but when it needs to be replaced, it will be succeeded by a Toyota FJ because Toyota is not a bunch of unskilled unionized thieves. Hope you choke, Vincent
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:06 PM by cocom
Mr. Nardelli, Have you ever heard the saying, "Actions speak louder than words."? Well, the the millions of tax payer dollars you spent on this add campaign says everything we need to know!!!!!
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:07 PM by westcott
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:43 PM by AtlasShrugged
Thanks for nothing. The money for this advertising campaign would have been better spent for Chapter 7.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:43 PM by Zoom
Had Chrysler chosen to honor its warranty on a series of defective OEM ancillaries and a bad head gasket on our Dodge Caravan, we might be sympathetic. As it is, you could not fail soon enough. Aftermarket parts are just fine, thanks.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:43 PM by BadHeadGasket
You're not welcome.
I'm boycotting you. My whole family is boycotting you. My mother and my father, my brothers and sisters, my sons and daughters.Just thought I'd let you know.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:43 PM by Jonn
I hope John Snow, personally paid for this dishonorable, deplorable advertisement that only acknowledges the THEFT of the American taxpayers hard-earned taxes. The TARP funds were explicitly authorized to fund a "bailout" of financial institutions, NOT car companies!! The Prez did this deceitful business without Congressional authorization-the supine Congress doesn't have the nerve to say NO! Never will I buy a product of a company receiving this "bailout". Mike
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 7:26 PM by Galaxy Flyer
Your vehicles are junk, especially the Dodge Caliber. You don't deserve to stay in business.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 7:26 PM by jfm
This Thank You campaign is a stunning example of the degree to which Chrysler's management has no clue. Taxpayer money is being watsed allowing a private equity group to cut its losses before the inevitable sale of the company (not likely without taxpayer funding guarantees. The best thing that can happen now for the taxpayers and the US auto industry is a chapter 7 filing. Odd that although the taxpayer is forced to bail out an incompetent organization we do not get to learn exactly who is invested in Cerberus. Those investors (any SWFs in there?) are the only winners.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 7:26 PM by goChpt7Now
Chrysler you are now a great burden on the american people. YOU took our money against our overwhelming NO vote & consensus. Chrysler should have filed chapter 11 and started over like many of your buyers have had to do. Chrysler IS going down . Americans hard earned tax dollars for your bailour will be blown into thin air , just like they were printed from nothingness but thin air.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 7:26 PM by Kate
Understand your thanks intent, HOWEVER, you're further proving that you don't know how to read how to manage the public's perception of your position. DO NOT spend OUR money like this. And DON'T spend it to preserve where you ARE. Shutter what you must, and deftly (6 months) show me a digital prototypes of 1. an all electric, 2. a sportscar under 3000 lbs with a 2L biturbo with 275HP and torque, 3. An aerodynamic truck - here, you showed leadership a decade ago with the big truck look, that crap is OVER. 4,000 lb, aero design, hi/lo 2wd tranny for load versus road/mileage. 4. Urban delivery like VW jetta vans I see in South America. There is opportunity in this mess for those who execute deftly. Show us you've got something for crying out loud! Fire every designer, regulator, and exec that says you can't do the above, and let the creative engineers dying to do these things make them happen. You can do it! I want you to, after all, I'm now invested as a taxpayer. ADS
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 7:26 PM by ads
The money you got was given to you by our corrupt ruler over my strenuous objections. You should fire your PR firm for suggesting this multi-million-dollar thank you campaign would redound to your benefit. You should have gone through banruptcy, allowing you to break your ruinous union contracts and get competitive. Instead, Bush et al. decided to pour money down the rathole of your inevitable failure, and YOU decided to spend a bunch of it thanking us! How precious is that? You guys sicken me.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 7:26 PM by Jim McClarin
yo - Chrysler. You are not a public company, are you? I mean you are not traded on any public stock exchange, yes? So how come your parent company - Cerebus, I believe - doesn't believe in you enough to "invest" more in you such that you have to turn to us American taxpayers? Maybe they know something about you that we don't? Is that why they are not bailing you out instead of us?
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 7:26 PM by nonono
Not Welcome. I opposed the bailout and will boycott Chrysler until Cerberus pays it back. I also look forward to the day when Chrysler's crappy FWD cars no longer taking up shelf space in the automotive market. The Caliber, Compass, Sebring, and Avenger don't even achieve rental car levels of refinement. Mitsubishi should sue for what you guys did with the GS platform.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 7:26 PM by George B
You are NOT WELCOME! What an insult upon injury. Chrysler is morally bankrupt, proven by this ad thanking the very people they've stolen from. There is nothing that could ever tempt me to buy your product and it appears much of America feels the same.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 7:29 PM by Bea
Don't thank me..You put yourself under.Now WE the taxpayer has to bail you out! This is just wrong! I am paying to bail out a company that I will no longer purchace a rotten product from.I own a 96 Dodge Ram.It is junk.Maybe send me a new transmission as a thank you and i could almost accept it..although it will only last 60,000 miles just like the last 2 transmissions it has had. (The orignal tranny and the one in it now) I would buy another car if I could afford one.And when I am able to afford one it sure as heck wiil NOT be a Chrysler product.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 7:30 PM by Not happy with Chrysler
Dear Chrysler: I don't like to pay for things twice, so since I've already paid to bail you out of your mess, I won't be buying any of your vehicles. Yours Truly, A great great grand nephew of Walter P Chrysler
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by rj
Don't thank me..You put yourself under.Now WE the taxpayer has to bail you out! This is just wrong! I am paying to bail out a company that I will no longer purchace a rotten product from.I own a 96 Dodge Ram.It is junk.Maybe send me a new transmission as a thank you and i could almost accept it..although it will only last 60,000 miles just like the last 2 transmissions it has had. (The orignal tranny and the one in it now) I would buy another car if I could afford one.And when I am able to afford one it sure as heck wiil NOT be a Chrysler product.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by Not happy with Chrysler
Mr Nardelli, this is the second time "to the well" for Chrysler so how many more times are you guys going to come crawling to the taxpayers for help? Why don't you get into your "corporate aircraft" and go ask the Germans at Daimler for your bailout?
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by sausages
I think its horrible you raided all of the pension funds for the honest people that worked for you in the past. Then ask for a handout of our own taxpayer money,I always felt you product was inferior compared to foreign makers. Well because the american started buying better autos and because we smarten up you punish us.All of maybe thousands who would have bought another auto well you made us madder.So forget the american people for caring anymore. Chrysler-Ford-GM the most hated car makers of the world. You earned that now known fact.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by chryslersucks
WHAT?! I don't think americas tax payers want to spend their tax money being thanked! Complete waste of money.
It is like the courtosey of holding the tax payers hair back....
I don't understand, chrysler makes nothing but horrible and unpopular cars. Ford and GM are great companies compared to chrysler.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by nickds7
The ad is in poor taste. That having been said, I hope that the US auto makers ALL stay in business because I am not ready to buy a foriegn brand, nor will I probably ever be. I survived what should have been a triple fatality, and so did the others, because I was driving an American built and branded Jeep Cherokee Sport, that did not crumble when impaled by a tractor trailer from the rear. Now, before all of you jump on this saying that it probably wasn't built here, what I mean is, American technology, American design, American safety, and most importantly, American steel. Our industries have all been adversly affected by the changes in international trade, and it's time to take OUR country back. If Chrysler is able to stay afloat, I will buy more of them. If not, I'll buy whatever is left, but you will not see me in a Toyota or Honda, or a Nissan or VW.......... Good luck, and I hope fewer Americans lose their jobs to the World.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by Jeep Guy
YOU ARE NOT WELCOME! It is amusing that you have recieved more hate comments than You're Welcomes. Whats even more funny, is how your company has lost business over this Bail-out. hahahahahaha ROT IN HELL CHRYSLER
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by Nightly Thought
I truly believe Americans should buy American products, but eah individual needs to responsible for which they do. And that includes Corporations as well as Small Buisinesses . I am very concerned with what is happening in the United States right now and for a Company to jump on the Currency Out Of Thin Air Band Wagon , then to spend it this way is very troubling indeed. All I can say is that each and every Corporate Manager in your Company needs to give back all the Monies earned in the past 10 years and pay this loan back yourself . I will not pay or contribute one Dollar or an Amero when it replaces our current Defunct Crap. Why don't you call Rockefellar for the funds.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by brder4ev
I truly believe Americans should buy American products, but eah individual needs to responsible for which they do. And that includes Corporations as well as Small Buisinesses . I am very concerned with what is happening in the United States right now and for a Company to jump on the Currency Out Of Thin Air Band Wagon , then to spend it this way is very troubling indeed. All I can say is that each and every Corporate Manager in your Company needs to give back all the Monies earned in the past 10 years and pay this loan back yourself . I will not pay or contribute one Dollar or an Amero when it replaces our current Defunct Crap. Why don't you call Rockefellar for the funds.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by brder4ev
No matter how you might try and sell this, your lack of financial responsibility coupled with our national assumption that we simply need to keep you around in the spirit of business-as-usual have sent us carreening toward full-blown Socialism. That the Chrysler corporation and the federal government have conspired together to spend my tax dollars in this way is totally reprehensible. You've received my tax money over my most strenuous objections. You will not receive a dime from me in consumer spending. Any way you people receive it, it's simply throwing good money after bad.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by schafkopf
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by Deeply concern
Surely your executive leadership doesn't honestly BELIEVE that your size and the magnitude of the consequences of their incompetence justify a bailout in a year when so many companies disappeared silently with no hope of government help. Of course they don't. They just knew that they could get it from those whose intellectual and moral bankruptcy exceed even theirs. Despicable and disturbing.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by Dan Davis
Surely your executive leadership doesn't honestly BELIEVE that your size and the magnitude of the consequences of their incompetence justify a bailout in a year when so many companies disappeared silently with no hope of government help. Of course they don't. They just knew that they could get it from those whose intellectual and moral bankruptcy exceed even theirs. Despicable and disturbing.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by Dan Davis
I have to follow up with this comment. I don't personally know one single person who wanted to give the big 3 any money. It's a shame when people lose their jobs but this has been a long time coming. How can a company that sends junk out the door and then turns their back on the customer expect to stay in business? Why chrysler would spend so much money developing a new gas guzzler when energy prices are so volatile instead of on more efficient platforms is beyond me. Hybrids? They want to slap an electric motor and a battery pack on an existing vehicle and call it progress and can't figure out why they aren't selling anything. I suppose this is chryslers "lipstick on a pig" approach.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by Puffnstuff
Thanks for a bad transmission, A/C, power steering and all this before 40K miles.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by george G
You are NOT WELCOME! That is my money, stolen from me at the end of a gun that you are wasting on prolonging the inevitable. My not so bold prediction for 2009 - at this time next New Year's Day there will be no more Chrysler. I was considering buying a new Challenger, but will now purchase a Mustang instead. Enjoy bankruptsy chumps!
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by lumpy
What's even more scarier than buying a Chrysler product, is having Dan Quayle as Chairman Cerberus Global investments.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by Borger
I realize that the UAW parasites have destroyed your ability to produce quality products but a chapter 11 is what you need as an anti-biotic...Not taxpayer thefts that will never end so to satisfy the UAW tapeworms. I also realize that the UAW gave politicians millions of dollars to use political violence against the rest of us to steal our hard-earned money. I will never buy anything the UAW touched.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by Anna
First off, out of my 11 uncles and aunts, NOT ONE owns one of your cars. Or any of the big three. Maybe you should make more reliable and affordable to fix cars. Cram packed engines and hard to get at oil filters to make *force* you into taking it into a dealership is another downfall and hope you choke on our tax dallors. No one i know of, is happy about this bail out and are made at the fact our government went ahead with this after over 50% of the people didnt want to. Foreign cars will run you done, and so will your poor *on purpose* quality breakdown cars. May this bite you in the rear and whoever helped this go through. This WILL NEVER happen again. You knew this was coming.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by WontBuyFromU
You are not welcome! Shame on you, Mr. Nardelli! Shame on all the morally bankrupt greedy, overpaid deadbeats at Cerberus! I feel sorry for the employees at Chrysler, but the fact is they do not build products that the public wants to buy. It is certainly not the fault of most of these employees, that most of the public does not want to buy these products, but life is not fair. Chrysler should be put out of its misery and Chrysler employees will have to find other jobs, just like other hardworking Americans do. It isn't easy. But hey, life sucks. Just like Chrysler products.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by Cosmo
Why did the taxpayers have to bail you out when your parent company Cerebus is worth billions.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by spotics
Wow, putting that message on a blog is another Great Corporate Blunder! Which one of the Chrysler Senior Management team is saying "Hey, there's no such thing as bad publicity right?" Bet one is. Anyhow, I'm trying to work out if putting this message on an open blog is in the top ten corporate slip ups for 2008 or 2009. PS, I get the impression the Unions have won now so keep those high pay deals going lads and we'll see you t*ts up in, oh, around 2010.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by Robin Ellard
Good riddance Chrysler. You've haven't made a car people want to buy, period. Please roll over and die, only then will you stop your looting of the American public.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by chryslerisjunk
You're welcome. Looking forward to many more cars being built in America by American workers.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by Schtauffer
Invested? Are you kidding me??? To call this "investing" is to call a man raping a woman "making love"... are your advertising people really that stupid, insensitive, or plain clue/careless? You are NOT welcome.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by blonderengel
Try to imagine an armed robber, with YOUR wallet in his hands, THANKING you for "investing" in his future. That robber would be Chrysler. Not only will I not buy any Chrysler products, the other of the "big three" can rest assured my shadow will never darken their showroom doors, either. See ya' in bankruptcy court, bastards.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by mark edward marchiafava
Disgusting. Never going to buy a Chrysler again. Why didn't you go Chapter 11 prepack while the problem was (relatively speaking) smaller? Anyone with two neurons capable of being rubbed together knows you are going there anyway.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by dougjp
You are not welcome, thieves. Your shitty, ugly cars will now sell even less, thanks to your ignorance and hubris. You better hope the government keeps printing money for you, because you aren't getting any of ours anytime soon.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:49 AM by Jake214234
How many years of your highest profits would it take to climb out of the fiscal hole you're in? Five? Ten? Without government money you are toast. Accept it. Shut down. Let someone else who has a clue come in and buy the assets cheap (i.e. what they are really worth), clear away all the old contracts, and start over.
The sad thing is, even with the government money you are only prolonging the inevitable. If you give it up and acknowledge reality today then the government only assumes certain pension liabilities and unemployment costs (also evil but that's a fight for another day). If you fight on consuming all of this nice, new printed money then you'll waste that and still fail, and the rest of us will still be stuck with the other costs to boot.
Yeah, thanks, Chrysler. (and Ford... and GM...)
By the way, did I mention how much I enjoy my Toyotas that almost never break as opposed to my American cars that lived in the shop?
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:54 AM by RPChurchill
I'm rolling over, but I've had to do that a lot lately.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:54 AM by Thomas Jefferson
Bailing out the inept banks was wrong. Bailing out the inept car manufacturers is wrong. It will only make the nation poorer while keeping the incompetent in place and in the lifestyle they have come to enjoy. Enjoy your stolen loot, guys. Be glad I have scruples which prevent me from procuring similar "investments" from you.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:54 AM by Jim O'Connor
No,no,no, Chrysler I'd like to thank YOU for all that you've done to show me just where your company is. I have a 2003 Dodge truck and your announcement ensures it will be the LAST Chrysler (or any Detroit company for that matter) vehicle I EVER buy.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:54 AM by nighttrain2008
Bankruptcy can't come fast enough for this rotten company. I would personally send ten dollars if it guaranted a brutal Chinese take-over. But sadly, cerberus luminaries like Dan Quayle and John Snow will get more time to plan their exit.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:54 AM by Nardelli's Private Jet Pilot
Can you tell me what the return on my so called "investment" will be? This bailout will allow Chrysler to continue on with business (or lack there of) as usual. Giving money to Chrysler is a waste of resources because of the long trackrecord of poor management and union stranglehold. Bankruptcy is the best option for a bankrupt organization (Chrysler) that should either start fresh with new management and no union or simply disappear from American business.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:54 AM by Patricks
Don't thank me. Thank the worthless thieves in Congress who stole my hard-earned money and gave it to you. I did NOT invest in Chrysler, as your patronising waste-of-an-ad suggests. BOYCOTT CHRYSLER, GM, and FORD!! But especially Chrysler.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:54 AM by Gilgamesh
To Mr. Nardelli and the UAW, GO POUND SAND! You all suck since it is your own fault (both management and the union) that have sunk Chrysler into the pile of excrement. I will not ever buy another car from you, or GM, or Ford.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:54 AM by USUCK!!!
You lost my business the FIRST time you got a bailout (Does anyone remember that? How could this government bail out a company TWICE??). And over the last 29 years you have continued to fail to inspire me with products that indicate an ability to compete and give consumers what they clearly want. Now some other columnist is trying to foment a new War Between the States, because Senators in southern states that have successful car makers located there voted against the Shrinking 3 bailout. This is complete nonsense. There should be NO bailouts for anyone - period. My favorite web poster for this reads: "You wouldn't buy our shitty cars. So we'll be taking your money anyway." I'm encouraging my daughter - now in college - to relocate to Canada or someplace else so she won't be saddled with the mountain of taxes necessary to settle this mountain of debt. Both Chrysler and the UAW needs to go broke.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:19 PM by tao54nyc
Thank heavens the government saw fit to give these jokers my childrens' money, so they can hope to have to option of ignoring Chrysler products someday, just like their daddy does. Otherwise, American auto manufacturing would disappear, as they tell me! That would be a real shock to our economy, just like when hard-working Americans stopped making floppy disks, Betamax players, flint-lock muskets and dirigibles.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:19 PM by cwallace
My wife and I just purchased a brand new Honda Odyssey. Theres no way we'd ever buy from the "big 3", ever again. If it comes down to Chrysler or walking.......we'll walk. I'll put my kids on a mule before I'll put them in a Chysler. Suck it, you parasites.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:20 PM by redhankyspanky
this comment by thomas dilorenzo of the mises institute says it all and echoes my feeling. thanks for putting it so well tom! Anyone who buys a car from Ford, GM or Chrysler from now on is a chump, a sucker, a fool, a loser, and a fascist. (A defining characteristic of European fascism was the privatization of profit and the socialization of losses, i.e., the "bailout" system the "Party of Lincoln" has forced on us). Give the middle finger to anyone you see driving a new "American" car if you value living in a free society at all. Better yet, show the one-finger salute to any Ford, GM, or Chrysler dealership as you drive by.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:20 PM by sunny
You are not welcome! I am opposed to corporate welfare. It is assounding to seeall the great captains of industry run to the government to get extorted tax payer dollars to keep their pathetic dream alive. If a company can't make it under present conditions it need to reorganize. Resorting to theft of public money is not the solution.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:20 PM by TexasTaxPayer
THIS IS WHY I BUY SUBARU, WHICH IS MADE IN INDIANA. I THINK A BETTER USE OF THE MONEY WOULD HAVE BEEN TO PROVIDE AN EQUIVALENT TAX INCENTIVE TO ANY CAR COMPANY, FOR EIGN OR DOMESTIC, WHO WILL INCREASE PRODUCTION IN THE U.S. THAT WAY, WE ONLY REWARD HEALTHY COMPANIES RATHER THAN CHRONICALLY SICK COMPANIES LIKE THE BIG 3. SO MUCH FOR CAPITALISM. IT'S REALLY JUST A POLITICAL FREE-FOR-ALL.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:20 PM by FOE
I didn't invest, my money was stolen by the thieves in Washington.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:20 PM by Rongstad
Thank you? Thank you for forcing every taxpayer in this country to buy a Chrysler whether they wanted one or not and we didn't even get the car. Just some sick newspaper ad and a parasite union. I now hope Chrysler, Ford, and GM go bankrupt and vanish into history. I've never owned anything but a Chrysler product. My first car was a 1964 Dodge Dart and I currently have a 2004 Dodge Ram and an 07 Magnum. Thanks to your forcibly taking even more of my money, my next vehicle will be a Toyota or Nissan. You're welcome!
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:21 PM by ram&a45
I didn't invest, my money was stolen by the thieves in Washington.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:21 PM by Rongstad
You're not welcome. Chrysler needed to die in 2008. But since politicians love giving money to their idiot buddies, it will stay on life support for a while longer. Bob, I now rarely shop at Home Depot because of what you did to that place. Lowe's gets 99% of my business. And because of your destruction of Chrysler, I'll never buy a Chrysler product. I feel bad for all the workers you've screwed over, but I feel worse for all the US taxpayers you've screwed over too. I'm good and I pay my debts and save money, but what's the point? Chrysler has shown that when you screw things up bad enough, Uncle Sam will be there to socialize a failing company. The most intelligent thing taxpayers can do is to continue to buy cars from companies that don't go to the US government buffet (any company besides Chrysler and GM). Chrysler is such a minor company that when it finally goes to Chapter 7, no one will really miss it. The sooner Chapter 7 happens, the better. You'll be fine though Bob, since you've got your golden parachutes from HD and Cerberus. God forbid you give any of that money to a laid-off employee that's in danger of losing their house, because I'm sure you need it to "get by". Oh yeah, Happy New Year! May your 2009 be filled with liquidation proceedings.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:21 PM by Chryslerblows
I think the add is an excellent idea. The American public needs to know the facts as they are shown. We should all try to purchase Chrysler, GM and Ford Products and support our own people. If I had my way..... we'd have a $1,000 tarrif on all foreign made products for a period of 4 years and then begin a great campaign of Buy America First! You others with criticism should take your turn standing in line for free food to feed my family as I did back in the 1980's. Get Real, Get Smart, Buy American.....!
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:29 PM by Dennis Rule
America had nothing to do with it! The majority of Americans were AGAINST the bailout of the Medium 3. You have no one to thank but your politically connected lobbyists!
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:29 PM by bjneiman
I think the add is an excellent idea. The American public needs to know the facts as they are shown. We should all try to purchase Chrysler, GM and Ford Products and support our own people. If I had my way..... we'd have a $1,000 tarrif on all foreign made products for a period of 4 years and then begin a great campaign of Buy America First! You others with criticism should take your turn standing in line for free food to feed my family as I did back in the 1980's. Get Real, Get Smart, Buy American.....!
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:26 PM by Dennis Rule
This is the second time in my life that the Feds have robbed me in order to pay Chrysler. Do you really suppose I'm interested in your "thanks," especially at the cost of a full-page newspaper ad? The only Chrysler product I've owned recently was a new, 1992 Jeep Wrangler that leaked water through the floorboards when it rained. I got rid of it before I would risk actually taking it off-road. I'm a family man these days and am very happy with my Honda Odyssey: I'm an old motorcyclist, and Honda's engineering departments have never let me down.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:26 PM by Daryl Davis
Wow not any positive comments? I didn't hear people moan this loudly about bailing out the banks that are the root of the whole problem. GM and Chrysler are victims of circumstance from a falling economy as much as bad management. If you think other car companies don't get support from their government your wrong. Most other world governments realize that a solid economy means keeping jobs in the country, not exporting them, and they provide support to their manufacturing industries to keep their people working. I agree the money could have been better spent but I am pretty sure that the purpose was to prevent people from feeling used and abused like the banks did to us all. At least they tried to put a positive foot forward, although not a well thought out step. But let's get real people if you want the economy to get better you had better start buying American products. I would have rather seen them go bankrupt, ditch the UAW contracts and start fresh but how many would have bought a car from a company in limbo? It would toll a death knell for untold numbers of jobs and extend the recession even longer. Keep thinking that buying foreign is great and the world economy is the best thing since sliced bread but remember that it can only go two ways. Bring the level of income and standard of living for the rest of the world up to ours, or take our standard of living down to their standards. Which one do you think is going to happen considering that America is a small amount of the worlds population. Besides the world economy is the American economy. Did anyone notice when Russia fell? Great Britain a few years back? Countries around the world have troubles but none affect the world like our economy does. We fell the world fell, Russia fell and nobody noticed. Save the world by saving America. We need to all start buying American if you want to get the economy going again. American products are a little more expensive but they are worth it. And don't give me that American stuff is low quality bull. That's a lame excuse for people to use who really are too selfish to care about anyone but themselves and just want to buy cheap garbage. Consumer reports has confirmed that. If you are totally convinced that foreign products are safe please drink some milk from China (Melamine anyone?) or eat beef from Europe (mad cow disease?).
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:26 PM by Does anyone have any sense?
America didn't "invest" in Chrysler. This politically connected company used cronies in Washington to shake down taxpayers. Plain and simple. If this were actually an investment, I would have received shares and been able to sell them, thus cutting my losses before such an inefficient, inept, and unproductive company failed again. Really, the thank you should go to the South and foreign car makers who put out far superior products with a lower cost and don't require political plunder to serve.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:26 PM by ryanh29
I think the add is an excellent idea. The American public needs to know the facts as they are shown. We should all try to purchase Chrysler, GM and Ford Products and support our own people. If I had my way..... we'd have a $1,000 tarrif on all foreign made products for a period of 4 years and then begin a great campaign of Buy America First! You others with criticism should take your turn standing in line for free food to feed my family as I did back in the 1980's. Get Real, Get Smart, Buy American.....!
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:26 PM by Dennis Rule
Are you kidding me? For once, Congress did what I wanted them to by giving you nothing. Your organization needs to fail, and it was not the American people who you need to thank. It is your political connections to the Bush adminstration. We have voted with our money by not purchasing your vehicles. Take a hint and exit the car business. Sell Jeep to someone who cares, then bow out. Don't waste any time thanking me ... I want my money back.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:26 PM by chamby
As a former 2d generation Chysler employee, former owner of Chrysler products (for over twenty years), and former stock-holder, I say to hell with Chrysler - one of the worst companies in America. Your products are low-quality trash that fail to change with the times and needs of the customers. Your dealerships are greedy cheats looking for ways to screw over previously loyal customers. Your after-sale dealership service is price-gouging piracy that cheats the customers. Your plants and offices are mismanaged to the point of waste and incompetence. Your senior management are blood-sucking leeches bilking the investors - and now the taxpayers - while laughing at the plight of the common man. Your bloated Unions are full of lazy, arrogant , over-paid and self-centered asses who think everyone owes them a high-wage living while they f-off at work. A sad end to a once proud company. Why can't you die respectably like every other self-respecting corporation that couldn't make a go in hard times - through bankruptcy. Damn you all for demanding another (yes, I remember Iaccoca - I was there!) bailout. I will never again buy a Chrysler product, invest in the corporation, or recommend that others do so. I own exclusively Honda products now, and am glad of it. Chrysler bankrupt and gone? I say, Good riddance to all of you.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:29 PM by Rock in DC
I didn't invest . I had my money stolen. I don't buy your piece of crap cars and certainly won't buy you piece of crap company.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:29 PM by bilejones
Thank YOU Chrysler for going behind my back and taking my money. Thank You Chrysler, for destroying other jobs somewhere else in America. Thank You! www.ObamaListenToPeterSchiff.com
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:29 PM by ObamaListenToPeterSchiff
I thought that add was a spoof... Nuff said
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:29 PM by Dizzie Diva
You have the audacity to "thank America"? You must be kidding. You and the UAW stole billions of dollars of OUR money through extorting your pawns in Congress; billions of dollars that will be taken from OUR paychecks and given to you and your poorly managed company. No thanks to you, I will now have to work harder to cover my promises and dreams to my family, while you and yours leach off of my back. I will NEVER buy a Chrysler product because of this, and do everything in my power to make sure that none of my friends and family do either. You are the worst of what this country has to offer, and you are stealing money from the taxpayers.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:29 PM by sdclarkson
Many of Chrysler's problems stem from the years of Mercedes butchering the company until little was left. All of the products besides the new Ram suffered from massive cost cutting. This put them in a bad situation from the start. There just hasn't been enough time for them to fix all of the damage done, because it takes time and money to fix or redesign products.
At any rate, you all seem ready to jump all over Chrysler for saying thank you, but have no problem with the banks being handed over $700 billion. It is America that should be thanking Chrysler, and GM and Ford for helping America though disasters, 911, and of course WWII, on top of all the people they employ millions of people, allowing those employees to earn a decent living. Yet we Americans crucify them for splitting $17 billion (or whatever the final number was) in loans. I for one am much happier seeing my money going to help companies that actually build something, to the last manufacturing industry this country has, than a bunch of paper pushing bankers who blow the money on subprime lending practices, are responsible for the financial meltdown, and don't even know where the money they were given has gone! But hey, keep wishing Detroit goes under while you buy your Japanese Camries. Just because it's built here doesn't make it American. If a company is based in Japan, or whatever other country, the profits go back there and benefit that company and that country. At least Japan protects its industries while we are happy to have it outsourced so we can buy cheap crap from Wal Mart at "low" prices.
If Detroit goes down then we as a country have nothing to show for ourselves except a bunch of bankers, lawyers, and Wal Mart and McDonalds workers. What a bright future that must be!
All I ask is that Chrysler continues to work its way back up, with designs that are once more class leading, with world class interiors, and new and advanced powertrains like the Phoenix V6 series.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:29 PM by Kimura
I agree with the analogies made upthread. Chrysler having the nerve to thank American taxpayers after we have been plundered is like a thief having the nerve to toss a “thank you” over his shoulder as he makes off with someone else’s money. By accepting federal funding Chrysler has all but assured the so-called bridge loan is a government give-away. One of many to come, no doubt. This is not 1979; this loan will not be repaid. People have a choice now and many of us will choose not to buy cars built by Chrysler because it asked and took our money. And for refusing to reward a failing company with their hard-earned money, American taxpayers will be made (again) to fund the failing company with their hard-earned money through taxation. After all, somebody has to pay for the UAW’s pension plans and health plans and golf courses. Somebody has to pay the union dues of congressional crooks. And so Chrysler will return to the trough like a pig, and though those villains in Congress will cry “Woo-pig-suey” as they toss our tax dollars away.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:29 PM by Andrea5
Invest!? Its hardly likely we will see any of this money again. Let alone with any appreciable interest. Luckily for us the Pigopolist Swine at Cerberus have overlooked this outstanding investment opportunity and allowed us, the taxpayer to get in on the ground floor. Fact is the government has “invested” more money into the Debt 3 then the damn companies net worth combined $50 billion vs $5 billion ! Curse our elected representatives for allowing these 3 stooges to become so large their imminent failure somehow has become unconscionable. Divestment of the 3, seppuku for their shameful management, and conscription of the UAW into the Peoples Liberation Army would do much to improve the state of the domestic auto industry.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:29 PM by Optimus Crime
Dear Chrysler, Which marketing genius decided to draw attention to Chrysler's theft from America? This ad is the perfect example of the idiocy that led to your current situation, and reinforces why a bailout shouldn't have been allowed. Andrew Seffrood, Minneapolis, MN
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:29 PM by Andrew T. S.
I'm with Dennis Rule. You are very welcome for the money. It isn't your fault that the economy melted down and people can't afford to buy cars. My In Laws are a Chrysler family and you build some nice stuff! Good luck to you in the future!
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:29 PM by 66stang
Invest!? Its hardly likely we will see any of this money again. Let alone with any appreciable interest. Luckily for us the Pigopolist Swine at Cerberus have overlooked this outstanding investment opportunity and allowed us, the taxpayer to get in on the ground floor. Fact is the government has “invested” more money into the Debt 3 then the damn companies net worth combined $50 billion vs $5 billion ! Curse our elected representatives for allowing these 3 stooges to become so large their imminent failure somehow has become unconscionable. Divestment of the 3, seppuku for their shameful management, and conscription of the UAW into the Peoples Liberation Army would do much to improve the state of the domestic auto industry.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:30 PM by Optimus Crime
Screw you Nardelli, You left Home Depot in ruins and you jumped with a 223 MILLION dollar golden parachute. I wouldn't buy a Chyrsler product again. Did you use any of the 223 million that you stole off the backs of HD workers to invest in Chrysler before you went begging? You remind me of Bill Zollars, CEO of YRCW, who ruined Kodak and now ruining another fine company. This ad is a stick up the American publics exit hole.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:30 PM by bucksnort
I must admit that I would be less cynical if there was some hope that Chrysler (and GM) could extract itself from the death grip of the UAW and CAFElegislation. But Nancy and Co. will not allow either.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:30 PM by Andrea5
Yes this Ad was wrong (as well as a waste of money)and so are most people that have commented on this ad. It was a loan and do you people forget that Lee Iacocca repayed the Us Gov back EARLY. Chrysler , Ford and Gm need help just like Harley- Davidson need when they were kicked when they were down... And Mr. Nardeii i got a great idea i would like to share with you for FREE only because i probably love this company more then you do. And want it to be sucessful like in 1997-1998. Please contact so i can share my Idea that may save Chrysler.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:30 PM by cool_cuda
Love my rusted shock towers on my 99" Caravan. Thanks again
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:30 PM by bucksnort
This is like some burglar breaking into your house, then sending you a thank you note. Too Funny! Guess what -NEVER EVER going to buy a Chrysler or GM now!!!
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:30 PM by CamryRules
I am glad to buy your cars if I like them, I am glad to buy your stock if it seems to be the right price and pays a decent dividend, and I would lend you money if you pay me a decent rate of interest, but I don't like paying you money when I have no choice in the matter. Let's keep our association businesslike and voluntary!
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:27 PM by chuck ullery
Instead of doing the right thing, Chrysler has done precisely the wrong thing. The right thing would have been: 1. To declare Chapter 11 (reorganization) bankruptcy 2. To advocate the complete elimination of CAFE standards 3. To support a significant gasoline tax in place of CAFE Instead, Chrysler chose to play ball with Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Ron Gettelfinger, rather than taking the tough and honorable steps outlined above to fix itself. Chrysler has exchanged the American consumer as its master for Reid, Pelosi and Gettelfinger as its new masters. Now we'll get the politically correct cars that Reid, Pelosi and Gettelfinger want Chrysler to build, not the cars that consumers really want to buy. This will lead to even deeper financial problems for Chrysler and more bailout money down the drain, whether in direct payments to Chrysler or through the back door as $6000 customer tax credits to buy the politically correct products Chrysler will now produce at the behest of Reid, Pelosi and Gettelfinger. I will never buy another Chrysler product, even though I come from a family that has owned Chrysler products for years. I myself have owned a long line of Chrysler products up until recently when I bought a Hyundai. Chrysler's (and GM's) conduct is disgusting and shameful. They have exchanged the right and honorable course (Chapter 11) for the tin cup of a common street beggar, feeding at the government trough and taking their orders from Reid, Pelosi and Gettelfinger, not the American consumer. Wilbur Thomas Professor of Finance Department of Business Concordia University St. Paul MN 55104
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:28 PM by WT3
I agree to a point that people should be outraged, but seriously, if your going to hate on Chrysler, there’s many other groups of people who have ACTUALLY bilked/stolen/miss used mass amounts of government money, get real and direct your outrage at the government and our current financial overlords.
this 4 billion dollar bridge loan is chump change compared to the blatant thief’s and liars in our system who have screwed over this country/tax payers/citizens for years on a scale many never thought it would never reach out of the common ideal that a person wouldn’t be as greedy to break the system for their own short term gain while they exist here on earth, most of these people who have put this country in the financial position its in are just fine and dandy, they made their truck loads of money while the feds print trillions of dollars that have no real value other then the guarantee you, me and every future living being in this country to be will saddle and work to pay it off until the end of time.
at least this SMALL amount of money is actually going to something useful that will benefit actual working people, this isn’t the only country that will be bailing out their auto makers or have, (IE Toyota will post its first operating loss in almost 70 years in the current Q) the hole that the auto (retail/manufacturing/any consumer industry you can think of) has fallen into from the current economic collapse is only going to get worse, the only thing GOVERMENT can do is try to spend its way out of it, that’s the responsible thing to do, this isn’t a situation that can correct itself and the downside to letting it correct itself, MIGHT be a total collapse of economic factors that could leave the country (and other countries, that we happen to be in debt with) in shambles for over a decade, wake up and deal with reality and address the hate where it belongs,
How are you all going to feel when states come to obama asking for trillions of “your” dollars? How about the retail industry, the service industry, they make up the majority of the workforce in our current economy, what if they need a “bailout” because the economy might not pick up in 2010?
So think about the whole picture before posting here about a 4 billion dollar bridge loan to an American auto maker who will use “your” (debt money that none of us have actually paid yet) money to at least sustain the middle class and thousands of families where it operates, which is much more noble then the hundreds of billions of dollars being printed for the organizations that knowing screwed you all over for a few individuals fast profit in the short term
At least Chrysler is saying thank you, thank you on a note that in all likelihood will be paid back, (even if they do get more money in the future, but who knows as it seems Chryslers owner wants to sell the company and be rid of it) unlike JPMorgan basically telling anyone asking for information on what they’re doing with billions of our dollars to get stuffed, though im sure if the situation worsens, they’ll be the first in the line asking for more money and will get it no questions OR oversight asked.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 8:44 AM by starmud
PS: How much of our money did you spend to run this ad? How out of touch can you possibly be?
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 8:44 AM by Angela Thornton
thanks for nothing... you exemplify what has gone terribly wrong with america. shame on you and your arrogance. the vast majority of american people said no to the bailouts but since we apparently no longer live in america at least not the country america once stood for you have gotten your way. you do not deserve the respect much less the welcome of the citizens who you have taken advantage of. our corrupt government sucks and so do you.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 8:44 AM by gibson
We will be waiting on you and the rest of your crew to bail on the American workers to outsource the last major manufacturing industry to the 3rd world slaves just like the rest of the American Corporations have done. I'm sure it's already in the works and this little check from us will make that transition a little easier for you. You all make sick. You couldn't give a rats ass about the workers.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 8:44 AM by NAFTA = Loss of sovereignty
Thieves, for you I only have one word... T O Y O T A
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 8:44 AM by Robed
I didn't have a choice in the matter of this "investment" but I do have a choice in what vehicles I purchase. I can assure you Mr. Nardelli, Chrysler will never see me at one of their delerships again.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 9:03 AM by Zedd
No one here gets it. This thank-you ad is just a subsidy to the NYT and other dinosaur media outlets who constanly shilled for this theft of taxpayer dollars to prop up these incompetent Chrysler executives and the union thugs. This was a thank-you for WSJ and USAToday for carrying water for these corporate goons.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 9:03 AM by rd001
This is the second time in my adult life that my money has been used to bail out Chrysler. That speaks volumes about Chrysler's ability or even desire to operate a successful business. For fear of a stroke, I don't even want to know how much of that money will be spent on executive bonuses and over-priced union labor. I have purchased my last American vehicle.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 9:42 AM by John in Texas
I'm sorry but I will not refer to you by name because I have no respect for you or your company. You are arrogant and cocky enough to put up a website thanking Americans for investing in your company? If American citizens wanted to invest in your company they would buy your crappy products! Believe me, if we had a say where OUR money went it would not be to you. I am a proud American and I will never buy an "American" made car. Most of the parts on your vehicles aren't even made in America and your management is stupid enough to bargain an agreement paying people with little to no skills 100k a year to put your foreign made parts together. I will leave you with a quote I cannot take credit for and do not know who to give credit to but "A lack of planning and preparation on your part does not make it an emergency on my part". You're not welcome.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 9:42 AM by Mrand55
First, although we live in a representative government, I want to say that I do not feel represented. I did not want Chrysler or GM getting one penny from me. Normal companies, at least in a normal free-market economy, fail from bad management; Chrysler and GM used the "too big to fail" moniker to defy even that.
Second, I have absolutely no hope that anything is going to change for the better at either Chrysler or GM. The exact same people who got the companies into the current debacle are still calling the shots. Normally, when a company has incompetent management in a normal capitalist economy, the management is laid off -- oh, but not here. Chrysler and GM defy those rules yet again.
Third, Chrysler, GM, and even Ford continually state that they are in the current financial crisis because of the economic downturn. If this is true, then why are most foreign automakers -- particularly those headquartered in Japan -- weathering the storm? Admittedly, Toyota has seen a decline in sales, but I highly doubt they beg governments for money anytime soon. And, much unlike "The Big Three," I have full confidence that Toyota -- at this very second -- is taking the steps necessary to ensure its long-term survival, whatever those steps may be. Why do I have faith in Toyota to do that but not "The Big Three"? Toyota has shown both a historical and recent ability and willingness to do so; "The Big Three" appear to be too incompetent and out-of-touch to complete any productive steps towards competitiveness and sustainability.
Fourth, take control of your company. You are letting a chaotic, uneducated union run the show. I'm part of a union in an entirely different industry: IT. However, the organization at which I work still runs things, and the union merely exists to ensure things are being done as the organization promised; the union does NOT force promises to be made by the organization. Accordingly, the union is simply setup to ensure contracts are fulfilled; they don't mangle with the contents of the contracts themselves. Honestly, I have full confidence that my union would go so far as to cease to exist if it meant the organization could stay afloat. The UAW, on the other hand, doesn't even understand that its money comes from the company that it works so hard to pull apart.
Finally, understand that there are few people connected to Chrysler and GM who are not partially responsible for the current crisis. Yes, that means that management is mostly incompetent (by not cutting down on costs, hiring competent designers and engineers, reducing the amount of brands, etc.), runs the companies like governmental bureaucracies ("oh, this isn't MY company and this is not MY money being wasted, so who really cares?"), and is highly overpaid -- either through direct compensation, bonuses, or other deferred benefits.
The designers and engineers are also incompetent; Chrysler and GM do not make appealing cars, either on the outside or under the hood. There is not one car from "The Big Three" that I would take over a Toyota Prius. Chrysler, GM, and Ford all make undesirable cars with mileage that often does not compare with those of Toyota, all for a higher price.
And of course, the normal workers are to blame. They are largely overpaid and have too many expensive benefits -- particularly in comparison to the rest of the United States. In addition, they, or the UAW on their behalf, continually ask for more on top of their already over-the-top compensation packages. I am sick of hearing about the "concessions" they have had to make. So what? You GAW workers are still not in-line with the rest of us, so get over it. Many of you folks are not even educated, so if you lived where I do, you'd be cleaning toilets for $8.00 an hour and APPRECIATING it.
But really, all these problems still stem from management. If the UAW's wages and benefits are so high, why did you sign contracts with them? You didn't have to. Scared that they were going to strike? Let them strike, and move your plants to states where new workers will appreciate a third of the current hourly wages with half the benefits. Nothing forces you to manufacture in Michigan.
So all in all, everyone at these companies is to blame, but ultimately, it is the management's responsibility to ensure everything is kept within realistic expectations. With the current incompetency at "The Big Three," there is little chance of this truly happening, and the loan money from the American people is sure to be squandered.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 9:42 AM by Jason Freeman
Seriously? This ad is yet more proof that Chryster needs to clean out its management and get leaders who actually have a clue what the American public wants. You stole tax payer money. You want socialism when it benefits you, but you want capitalism and freedom from every regulation at all other times. You know how you had a PR problem before the bailout and before this ad? Well, stealing money from the tax payer made it a million times worse. I will never, ever, ever buy a car from the "big 3." (Well, maybe if they pay back every cent they took from the tax payers.) Taking this money will cost you so much more than pulling yourself up by your bootstraps would have! Also, when will you get a clue about making and selling cars in America? My 1987 Honda Accord GETS BETTER GAS MILEAGE THAN MOST OF YOUR CARS TODAY!!! How is it possible that a 20-year old car is getting over 30 miles per gallon and you still can't figure out how to do this and fight any regulation to force it to happen?? And then your industry advertises needless advances (I believe this week was an announcement about self-parking cars) rather than just making cars of the future in terms of gas mileage and alternative fuels. I can't believe the amount of money you all waste...this ad, paying incompetent management, private planes and every other form of self-entitled corporate excess, lobbying against regulations that would have actually led to Americans liking your company more and liking your cars more, etc. The list never ends. You are a miserable company.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 9:42 AM by MimiG
Christler: You're really thanking the labor unions, right? Especially the UAW, and of course the mob/organized crime which supports it? How dare you and UAW president Gettlefinger bypass the U.S. Congress - and the U.S. Constitution - and get your bailout money from the Federal Reserve and expect us tax payers to put up with your shenanigans. All this goes to show how corrupt we've become as a nation, and it's largely because labor unions and organized crime have ignored and spat upon the Constitution and allowed the Federal Reserve to control us. Dr. William Campbell Douglass has it right when he says we desperately need to get honorable representatives back in Washington who will uphold the true law of the land: http://www.thatsgoodmedicine.com/17-political-health-and-healing-installment-2/
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 1:58 PM by Patriot1
i have owned at least 7 chrysler products in my lifetime. currently i own 3. let me say now, that i will NEVER own another chrysler as long as i live. i will either purchase Ford or Foreign. do you realize sirs, that the United States taxpayers have bailed you and your company out twice in the past 30 to 35 years. when are you and your executives going to figure out how to run a profitable company without getting government hand outs every time you screw up?
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 1:58 PM by rick
This is just more evidence that Chrysler et al just don't "get it". I was a died-in-the-wool Mopar guy, until my last two new vehicles. I made the incredibly bad decision to purchase a new Plymouth Voyager several years ago, and after the fourth replacement of the transmission (two at my cost), and the second replacement of the fuel pump, and the second replacement of the air-conditioning condenser, I vowed to never purchase another Chrysler product after the spectacularly bad support I recieved from your dealer and your company. Your actions in the last several months have only reinforced my opinion that Chrysler cannot effect enough substantial changes to correct all that's wrong. Maybe you should take a hard look at your PR firm; this "Thank-you" is one of the worst moves Chrysler has made in the past several months.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 1:58 PM by David Montgomery
Dear Mr Nardelli: America bailed you out. Do you think you could now send some of this relief to your current customers. Did it ever occur to you that we might also be in need of some assistance. Im behind on my payments by one month yet the calls from your organization come at an alarming rate. After all the grace America has shown you, could you not extend some of that courtesy to your customers and call off the hounds? How about calling all your current customers to offer them a bit of debt relief. That would show that some of the money you were given is being spent somewhat wisely, as we all are very skeptical as to what miraculous innovations you and your company are going to create in order to save your company in the long run. CHARITY STARTS AT HOME!!!!! STOP THE HARASSING CALLS!!!!!
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 1:58 PM by angry300financer
Summary: Labor unions are anti-competitive because they lock in wages. Labor unions are able to do this because they are run largely by organized crime. UAW is a labor union and refusued to make auto union workers' wages 'competitive'. UAW president Gettlefinger stated publically on TV: "If we don't get our bailout money through Congressional approval, we'll get it through the Federal Reserve." The protections to U.S. citizens afforded by the U.S. Constitution are being hijacked: The Federal Reserve granted UAW the money, which is to be paid through taxation of U.S. citizens. This equals taxation without representation. Of course we Americans are angry.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 1:58 PM by Patriot1
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 1:58 PM by Chuck
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 1:59 PM by Chuck
Oh no, Chrysler. Don't thank me. I want to thank YOU! By raiding an EMPTY US Treasury, you have helped to insure that the government is going to ruin the dollar by printing a river of new ones to loan to YOU. When the inevitable raging inflation hits, people on fixed incomes - like my parents - are going to be ruined, and the next generation will live in poverty. But at least Chrysler's overpaid, incompetent executives and overpaid, lazy workers will be okay. So thank YOU Chrysler for taking care of number one and screwing my parents. my children, and America in general. I will ride a donkey to work before I buy a car from you or GM.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by acala
You have some nerve Chrysler. I'm writing my congressional representative. Bailing out companies that make poor products completely flies in the face of what makes America great. Helping temporarily prop up terrible businesses with poor management is not capitalism. Bad companies need to go away. America needs to invest in business that we CAN succeed in. It's not that "we lost" to overseas companies... most of them operate here in the U.S. It's that we're trying to prop up dinosaurs that should have become extinct! Like Chrysler.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by Dan Formen
Chrysler, you are no better than the common criminal. Your actions are no different than someone breaking into my home and stealing valuables. The fact that the executive branch was your coconspirator in this crime is no excuse and in fact makes matters worse. You should go bankrupt, and the government officials who aided and abetted your crimes should be convicted of treason. http://www.juntosociety.com/patriotism/inytg.html
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by datavortex
Nardelli screwed up Home Depot. Now his incompetence is at the helm of Chrysler. Is he putting any of his 222 million golden parachute from HD on the line at Chrysler? I just bought an Xterra, made in the USA. Sorry Jeep
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by bucksnort
The auto bailouts are an embarrassment to the United States, just as the bank bailouts were. Please do not thank me for something I did not approve of. I asked my represenatives to deny both the bank and auto bailouts and it is clear Congress does not listen to the American public(s). I won't be buying your vehicles and will make a point not to rent them in the future as well.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by Darren Purcell
You know, I send thank-yous to people who GIVE me things. You got the thugs in Washington to steal our money from us. You're the first mugger I've ever had with the hutzpah to send a thank you card. You're not welcome, and I'll never by from the big 3 again. I tend not to become a customer of those who steal from me.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by tremendoustie
Before you ever received a single dollar from another American, I would like to have seen those representing this company living in apartments paying rent month to month. Everything you've ever had should have been invested before our money was used. To think that families behind this company are set for generations at our expense is apalling, un-American, and pathetic. As for everyone else employed by this company, as everyone else stated about, all I have to say is "thats life." No one from Los Angeles to New Yowk is going to lose sleep when I can't find a job. I'm not even going to comment on the poor qualiy of the products of this company- on principle alone this should never have happened.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by baha
If investment is deserving of your company why did no one accept? Why go the government for handouts? Don't pretend it's a "loan" either. It's free money from the back of hard working taxpayers who can't afford their own bills. Facism www.libertygrotto.com
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by libertyJ
THANK YOU????? For what? I didn't give you the money. It was taken against my will. We have bought GM cars every three years, for years. Need a new one next fall. Won't be GM, guess we'll have three fords sitting in the drive way. I gottta go check out cars.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by bigdog82644
You owe me a car.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by Suttono
I no longer find disbelief in how friggin' stupid this country is as a whole. Whatever happened to us? We are being told what to think and act and we do in robot-like agreement like a bunch of TV educated robots!
The straw man of the auto bailout was put out there to take Americas minds off of the almost TRILLION dollars GIVEN to failed bankers with NO oversight and not even a glimmer of payback, yet, the country is up-in-arms, whining and crying over a few lousy billion dollars in loans to people who EMPLOY average Americans at good paying jobs PRODUCING products!! We're idiots I tell you!
Those redneck Senators and Congressman who started this whine-fest somehow failed to mention how much money THEIR states, counties and cities gave in bailouts to foreign plants for building there, didn't they? That's not just tax breaks but free infrastructure of all sorts thrown into the deal. Maybe thses freebe figures should be tallied up and thrown right back in those Republicans faces!
Regarding that other straw man, union pay. Never before has this country tried it's hardest to bring DOWN the wages of average Americans instead of trying to LIFT the wages and lifestyles of other fellow Americans. Describe 'class envy' to me again please!
Meanwhile, many are busy making excuse after excuse condoning the exhorbitant pay CEO's make... even when the company the CEO works for is heading downhill.
This country has to do some serious soul-searching. We're being lead to our downfall by GovCo and their long-time desire for a 'new world order'!
Think people... THINK!
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by Jack C.
The feeble-minded voters try to vote themselves other people's money only to get upset when someone else gets the political terrorists in DC to steals theirs. The UAW parasites will have to beg 20-somethings for burger flipping work and all will be right in the universe. Try Chapter 11 next time !!!
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by AllenJ
Maybe one day Americans will wake up and realize they are really stupid to even consider paying taxes...This should do it.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by Peter Reed
Instead of thanking me, could you please explain why it's important for American taxpayers to bail out a private equity firm? You don't need ads. You don't need thank yous. You need to not make lousy cars. There...there's your bailout. And I'm not even an MBA. I'll also never be a Chrysler customer.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:59 PM by lee gibson
Parasites!!! Buying political mafia scumbags to steal from all of us...You and the filthy little bully-retard UAW can starve!
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:59 PM by SamM
what a bunch of bird brain douche bags. and its amazing that it took this for america to realize that chrysler was not a company that should be in business. and when they go out of business the world will be left with millions of cars that break down on a daily basis and have no replacement parts for. i bet the management sleeps at night as well!
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:59 PM by Turbo_D
Now my family has to go without more of our income because of tax-taking cockroaches like you...Your political terrorists steal 50% of my income and you think nothing of begging them to steal more for your thieving maggots in Dirtroit...No! Thank YOU!
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 1:00 PM by AndreaD
You are definitely NOT welcome! If I wanted to invest in Chrysler I would buy its stock. I don't appreciate the government stealing my money to bail out your company and your greedy employees. I hope you go out of business this year, along with any other companies that accept my money to bail them out. I will just keep driving my Japanese cars (built in this country by companies that know how to do business).
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 1:00 PM by POd
I have owned now a 98, 02, 04 and now two 07's (since one was crashed into by a drunk) Dodge Durangos. They are fantastic vehicles, but unfortunately, they'll be my last as they have been discontinued. While I really couldn't care any less about the adds( which frankly were kind of silly to be honest, but I have much greater concerns in my life to be worried about a stupid add) I am dissapointed in the killing of the Durango. Why not make the body a bit bigger and put it on the new Ram chassis? It would make a great full sized SUV. I hope that you find a replacement for the Durango, and fast, as ours now has 135,880 miles on it. We will need a new one within a year, and right now our only real choice for hauling our boat will be the Tahoe. Please don't make me buy a General Motors vehicle.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 1:01 PM by happytodrivedodge
Hey, angry300financer; Perhaps you should not have purchased something which you cannot afford.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 1:01 PM by happytodrivedodge
Instead of having the terrorists in DC steal from us, why don't you get money the honorable way like running illegal drugs...Delorean had more honor in his little finger than you all.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:32 PM by Archie
The murderers and thieves in DC are murdering all of us with their laws and taxes and the retarded TV-watching voters vote for more taxes and laws. Good for you to get the stupid people's money...Well Done!
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:32 PM by Tammy Wilson
Try making products consumers want. You won't need a bailout if you do that. Try it some time NO bailouts for any company.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:32 PM by mnorml
My late father fought in WWII against the Japanese, and my mother in an assembly plant building vehicles for rhe war effort. If it were ever to happen again, I would not fire a shot in the defense of you so called pro-American foreign vehicle lovers. Too bad that so many died to defend your right to hate on US companies, you all should be typing now in Japanese or German, that is, if you were born at all. Where is all the hate for AIG and the other banks that got BAILOUTS and not repayable LOANS? That's right, they are offering no thanks in the media or blogs on the internet? They are producing VAPOR, just like the vapor between all your collective ears. The Japanese and Korean vehicle manufacturers are supported and protected by their governments, and their countries' citizens are SMART enough to keep their mouths shut about it. They KNOW what butters their economic bread.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:33 PM by Damian
Wow.. What a bunch of narrow minded idiots. Citi gets 35 BILLION under the table 'over the weekend' and then sponsors the Rose Bowl and no one has anything to say... Chrysler gets A FRACTION of that, saves millions of american jobs and has TO PAY EVERY PENNY BACK (Remember, these are loans. Not the FREE money that Wall Street got) then launches a website and campaign out of goodwill, and everyone starts whining. Wake up america! Stops believing everything you read in the media. A media that is hellbent on finishing the Detroit companies and putting millions of americans out of work. (That should've been obvious to everyone when PRIVATE JETS apparently became more important than peoples lives) If anything, we should be rallying behind our LAST major manufacturing base and the middle class it created instead of ushering in one more step in the eventual fall of our empire.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:33 PM by jmleathe
Oh, and BTW... For those of you that have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to this industry (READ: the majority on this blog) It was Daimler-Benz that destroyed Chrysler by depleting their funds and putting out inept product at a very slow rate. Daimler got too big too fast and the current situation for Chrysler was the fallout. I hope you remember that while you're worshipping your beloved foreign brands.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:33 PM by jmleathe
I will never look at someone who drives a Chrysler the same way. Those wheels were paid for by the widows, the elderly in retirement homes on fixed incomes that are being vaporized by inflationary spending like this and so many other unconstitutional "bailout" schemes. Inflation tax is the most unfair form of tax. It hits the poor the hardest, destroys the purchasing power of the US dollar, and debases our economy. If I recall correctly, Chrysler execs couldn't even promise that they wouldn't just turn around and spend any money they siphon out of the US treasury on foreign made parts! If this happens again, I hope more execs will do the honorable thing and just declare bankruptcy to make room for someone who can do the job better. Lead, follow, or get out of the way. Don't drag the rest of us down.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:33 PM by RDP
You are welcome Mr. Nardelli, I mean the private owners of Cerberus, who were brilliant to ask for and got tax payer money to bailout Cerberus, a privately held company, which refused to dump more money into a failing company, and who were too scared of the UAW. Chrysler's bailout: first time shame on you...second time, shame on us...third time (i.e. March 2009), we are simply idiots. Cerberus needs to cough up matching monies next time around in March and show us that they actually spent even a dollar on turning Chrysler around versus holding out for a buyer. But, I'll be generous and ask Cerberus to only give me 8% directly to me for my tax money since they received over 50% in the form of the bailout on what they paid for Chrysler to begin with. Please send check to me at... I also like the fact that Cerberus got more bailout money through their 51% stake in GMAC, which received $6billion taxpayer money. p.s. Mr. Nardelli, please post a thank you to all the individual private equity partners of Cerberus, too, since they facilitated the taxpayer bailout by refusing to put more money into a failed business model. I would like to know their names, because I want to thank them, too. Well, rather, because I want to know how I can get a piece of Cerebrus profits.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:33 PM by laffingmyselfsilly
Just a bunch of entitlement-minded UAW parasites who think they own my income...Yeah...Thanks.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:42 PM by Linda M.
My family now goes with less because you got the political parasites in DC to steal from me...Just to keep stupid goons like Gettlefinger in Viagra.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:42 PM by Janet Daily
Maybe it is time to send all the taxtaking parasite bacteria to Cuba...Gettlefinger first.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:42 PM by April
We need to teach these lobbyists a lesson. It's time to boycott the bailouts. Let teh Chrysler Boycott begin. As consumers, we have the ultimate power. If Chrysler cannot be profitable, they MUST return the bailout money. Let's make it happon.
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 9:25 AM by BoycottTheBailouts
Chrysler vehicles suck and I am sure they will suck harder now that you can just steal money from the taxpayers. You should file for CH 11 and split the proceeds amongst the American taxpayers. Your workers can go suck an egg.
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 9:25 AM by izoneguy
Thank You for stealing our money just to keep those idiot UAW apes off the streets. Detroit is a for retarded parasites and so are their so-called cars.
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 9:25 AM by Sally Dawson
It wasn't the banks that were bailed out, it was the deadbeat (sub-prime) borrowers who never had any thought of paying back their loans...Entitlement-minded maggots...Sound familiar to you?
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 9:25 AM by Wendy Evanden
Hi Chrysler,since you stole the money from us(taxpayers) from the backdoor. I will have to remind you i will not buy from crooks!!! I will never by another product from your company and when you go under i expect every dime back that you stole from the US TAXPAYER!!!!! may your company go bankrupt asap so we can save our taxpayer money from greedy mismanaged companies like yourself!!
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 9:25 AM by speciallyblend
lmleather, umm we are pissed at citi to ,we do not want any company that cannot survive on its own to get bailout. restructure the comapny? that is what bankruptcy is for, throwing money down a hole and to keep doing it ,is insane. these bailouts will not save your beloved job or company. it will only fatten the ceos. everyone posting here is also againt the other bailouts to,but citi was smart enough not to allow comments:) i bet the comment section will be deactivated soon here,since the last thing this company wants is honesty;) the fact is all the bailouts are pathetic and will eventually be useless money thrown to useless companies that cannot operate effectively. bankruptcy is the option that will get rid of pathetic management as well as some employees!! the only one to blame are the companies themselves!!!
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 9:58 AM by speciallyblend
Help me understand this: Your borrow money, you pay it back with interest, and we therefore make a profit. Is that what you're claiming? Well, that doesn't make sense, because you're going to write the interest expense off your taxes! We're not stupid, just apathetic. PS - I bought my first foreign car this weekend. It is a Subaru Forester. I always wanted one, but never could get past the guilt of not buying American. THANK YOU for helping me with that.
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 10:53 AM by Andrea123456
Gee I don't know what to say. I guess you are very welcome. I have a big screen TV if you want that too. Or maybe some food from my fridge, are you hungry? Don't worry about me I'll be fine, stop by anytime and rob me silly. I'm just happy that my mom who is barely scraping by after a medical problem and my newly wed and very poor brother, and all the rest of us peasants in the US could serve as some use to you. Tell the dicators in D.C. hello for me the next time you are extorting cash. Thanks!
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 10:53 AM by Liberty4All
Don't thank me, thank all those looters that voted for your bailout. It saddens me to see you hurting, but when you've (the car companys) hurt the American people time and time again, I just don't see that we owe you anything. Thanks for ripping up our streetcar tracks in the 50's, thanks for fighting against installing seatbelts and safty glass, thanks for suing the state of California cause they value breathing clean air. Get lost scum.
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 12:18 PM by prrandell
hey chrysler, Are you serious? why are you thankingme for stealing my money? ive been on a permanent layoff for 8 straight weeks and will never get my job back because of corporate and government greed that companies like yours participate in. if you really want to thank me, how about forgiving the loan on that jeep i bought 2 years ago with MY MONEY that you took??? simple , but yet you wont do it. no instead you spen the money on BS adds like this thanking us for stealing our money. do you realize how many families this money could have helped? And one more thing our media doesnt seem to mention,...how are you getting this money claiming hard times , when over seas you have opened a number of BRAND NEW PLANTS?? OVER SEAS!! So you take the US peoples money and then use most of it over seas where we will never benifit from it, not even in 1 job! I have always supported the american car markets, but i promise you that i will not ever again from this day forward. i like my jeep, but i promise you it will be my last. i wont even buy used american cars anymore. lets see, im now laid off, ...how about sharing some of that bailout? NO? thats what i thought. Besides Im not a theif, so i wouldnt take it anyway. Rot in Hell Chrysler. I hope you tank. cheers!
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 12:26 PM by flair1111
Fire your multi-million dollar CEO's, make DECENT (at least) cars, pay your employees (not fire them) and maybe WE will have something to thank you for.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:01 AM by Pizdov
Don't thank me, I didn't vote for your corporate welfare, err I mean "bailout". But don't think that I don't appreciate you spending hundreds of thousands of your bailout dollars on useless newspaper ads when you claim to be on the verge of bankruptcy. Your problem is not the UAW. It is not your Japanese competitors. The problem is that for years, the America auto industry made GARBAGE, and tried to force that garbage down our throats. Now you've shipped American jobs to overseas factories and you expect us to support you? Foreign car companies are building factories here in the US and are employing Americans. That more than you are doing.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:01 AM by Monkeypox
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:01 AM by delafontaine27
To take this money from the taxpayers is horrific. If you need this money now you will clearly need more later, taxpayers are broke, the equity in our homes is gone, credit is tightening, jobs are being lost at companies that actually turn a profit and do not get bailouts. This is going to cause inflation because the government has no money, it is 10 trillion in debt. Ultimately the Federal Reserve (which is not federal and has no reserves) caused this problem and created the boom that fueled all this malinvestment through low interest rates and expansion of the money supply (inflation). Now they are just going to run the printing presses at full blast and destroy our currency. You cannot re-inflate a bubble. The taxpayer is doomed. Our entire economy is a fraud, a giant house of cards made of debt. Our money is backed by nothing with a guarantee from a government which is continuously growing, making more laws, and sinking further and further into debt with no hope of turning it around. Have fun with my money Chrysler, I'll be using what little I have left to prepare for the coming collapse.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:03 AM by silentboom
In case you missed the point of the House and the Senate voting down your bailout requests, it was to DENY the automakers bailout funds. Nice try though, thanking the people you just robbed and paying for the ad with the stolen money.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:03 AM by MarineForLiberty
Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} What is wrong with you Chrysler? Are you placing these ads to rub it in our faces that even though this got a "NO" vote in the proper channels, our improper President decided to give you OUR money? My gift to you is this: I will never spend a dime on your company voluntarily...I will make sure that no one in my family does the same. Though I am just one man, I have a voice...I will use it to continually spread the word to those that might not be aware of how serious this issue is…and they will know the truth about what you have done here. This money you have stolen from the American public…will do you NO good. Bottom line...if you had a product worth buying, you'd have no trouble. However, the fact is...you don't. This was one of the most UN-American moves that an American company could do...You should be ashamed of yourselves. You won’t succeed and someday you will answer for this crime against us….not a threat, its just what happens…thieves get caught.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:03 AM by Chris Pelton
This is the first time I've been "thanked" for being ripped off. I guess I should say thank you for thanking me for stealing from me.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:03 AM by mercyngrace
PLEASE STOP WASTING OUR MONEY ON THESE STUPID ADS!!! MAYBE YOU SHOULD BAIL US OUT BY GIVING US ONE OF THOSE CRAPPY CARS YOU MAKE.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:03 AM by kane
Trust me, IF the American people actually had a choice, you would not be thanking us right now. Financial Institutions: "Give us money so we can lend it to you." Big Auto: "Give us money so we can make cars and sell them to you."
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:03 AM by briantology
It seems strange that there are people like the UAW that still exist...Why don't they start there own car company and compete? Why do they suck the life out of other people's property/companies? Send them to North Korea where they belong.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:03 AM by Ben Cower
I will never spend a dime on any car company that plunders my money and then spends it to send me a thank you card. Not one dime for a Chrysler until the plunder is returned, with interest, and with a sincer apology to the American people. Corrupt, criminal swine. You should be ashamed.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:03 AM by Denryu
You are all criminals! I have had numerous Chrysler vehicle through the years and I can honestly say: You will never get another dime from me. Well, not another legitimate dime, your cowardly theft of course withstanding. I hope your company goes bankrupt very soon so that a legitimate company that is not sucking the lifeblood from the american people can fill your place and earn our business through free-market forces rather than socialized, government sanctioned theft. Shame on ALL of you, Chrysler corp and UAW. Feel free to leave our country anytime and the UAW thug management SLIME can crawl back under the nearest rock from whence they came AND STAY THERE!!!!!
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 1:25 PM by Luken
Proper/modern V6 Engines...Proper/modern Transmissions...Proper/modern Interior Materials...Try these things so people will want your products and you won't feel compelled to steal from us again. I know these things and I am just a woman !!!
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 4:12 PM by Sandra
People who use political terrorism from Washington DC to steal from me will never have my business. The tax-takers need to be eliminated so that honorable humans can live well.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 4:12 PM by Jeff S.
What a big joke almost as bad as bailing out cartel banks.Take those bought and hidden designs off the shelf and start making 100 mile a gallon vehicles,then you wouldnt need to steal from people for your bad business decisions.No one bails out the American citizens.Shame on this govt for selling out its citizens to illegal banks.Sick of the bs,these crooks are doing to this country.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:41 PM by Taxmemore
Ever hear of free adds ?No wonder your broke.Your lack of good investment skill stink.Use our money to place adds,Is this a joke,why not just send murdoch a million dollar check and place an add on tv.Idiots.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:41 PM by Taxmemore
You are very welcome and anytime you need to put the government's gun to my head, just feel free to do so! Why don't you be men and steal from me yourselves instead of being cowardly little boys and get the terrorist politicians to steal from me for you? That's the least you could do...Give me the chance to defend MY property personally.
Posted Jan 7, 2009, 9:19 AM by Mandy
Well, I just got rid of my 2007 Dodge Ram, and my wife and I are trying in earnest to sell our 2006 Chrysler 300...one of the worst cars we've ever had. It spent more time in the shop then our garage at home. THANKS TO YOUR SELFISHNESS AND WASTING OF MY MONEY, I WILL NEVER EVER EVER BUY ANOTHER CHRYSLER PRODUCT AGAIN, SO HELP ME GOD. GET SCREWED, CHRYSLER.
Posted Jan 8, 2009, 7:12 AM by phuck_chrysler
I agree...Time to rid this great country of all the tax-taking scumbags!!!
Posted Jan 8, 2009, 7:12 AM by Phillip
To all you naysayers and condemners on here: Following your "logic" you all better be boycotting all the banks and insurance companies also. They received a BAILOUT with absolutely NO STRINGS ATTACHED and have done nothing to help the economy. Oh wait...CitiBank did spend millions of dollars sponsoring a football game. Sure seems funny none of you people are wailing away at that. Chrysler received a LOAN. With MANY strings, regulations, and oversight attached. And they must pay it back. Mr. Nardelli and company have been on board for only just about a year. They inherited a mess that Daimler left them and have been making substantial progress until this current economic debacle came.....which by the way is NOT the automakers fault. It's amazing nowadays how people are led around by their noses by the mainstream media and the now ubiquitous "gospel" blogs. Keep drinking the "kool-aide". Best of luck, Chrysler !!
Posted Jan 8, 2009, 5:09 PM by ricku
Please don't thank me for anything, because if you had actually asked me for the money, you would not have received it. The UAW is strangling the auto industry and you guys caved in to their whining. To get paid what they do for the kind of work they do, not to mention the benefits, is criminal, literally. The UAW is a perfect example of greed and corruption gone completely amuck and has outlived it's usefulness as an organization. The same goes for most other unions in this country, but especially the UAW. Fire them all and hire back the ones who will do the work for $15-20 /hr and take the money you save from that and lower the average price of your vehicles. Then you can thank me. In the mean time - piss off. You should have all been denied any bailout whatsoever and had to lie in the bed you made. If that means no Chrysler, GM or Ford, then that's what it means. We could look back at history one day and say, "See what happens when big wasteful corporations pay exorbitant management salaries and give ridiculous 'Golden parachute' clauses to CEO's and pay ridiculous salaries to union employees? They go bust!" So no, you are most definitely NOT welcome. And when you go down in flames after the bailout money runs out, take Ford, GM and the UAW with you. Thomas Maretzki San Antonio, TX
Posted Jan 8, 2009, 5:09 PM by tmaretzki
The Taxpayer has got to be the most stupid animal on planet earth. Laughably stupid. Followed closely by the government-lovers.
Posted Jan 8, 2009, 5:09 PM by PamR
Maybe we need to start stealing from you!
Posted Jan 9, 2009, 9:38 AM by Ellen S.
I can't believe there are people who actully don't like their money stolen from them by political terrorists. Tell that loser parasite Gettelfinger to...Just throw those UAW monkeys bananas.
Posted Jan 10, 2009, 2:38 PM by Fred Teller
The intelligent people recognize that the "stupid parasite" voter's governments killed Detroit with their murdering taxes and laws...Especially laws that allow the filthy UAW maggots to exist.
Posted Jan 10, 2009, 2:38 PM by Wendy
This ad goes to show that you MBA educated, six figure earning schmoes are about as fiscally responsible as a five year old with a 20 dollar bill in a candy store! I hope that our hard earned tax dollars can still afford your luxurious homes and lavish vacation spots while your factory line workers have their houses foreclosed upon because you would not help them in the least bit! I "seriously" hope that you are able to sleep well on your 1000 thread Sateen sheets while many of your former employees that you laid off and became homeless are lying in streets, under bridges while lying under cardboard (if they are lucky)! Have fun skiing in Tahoe and Aspen (I think I saw you on the slopes of Switzerland) while your former employees shovel snow to put food on the table! You must feel like a king in your high skyscraper office looking down on the peasants of Detroit surrying about for food!! I always thought your cars to be crap and your lousy business ethic and saviness is better proof as to not buy a Chrysler at all!!
Posted Jan 17, 2009, 4:41 PM by gaseous69
Geez chrysler just got even more money, 1.5B from the taxpayers to fund the sales of their crappy products. It's the never ending circus starring the peoples money handled by companies that can't build what the rightful owners of said money want. People it's time for you to write your elected officials and demand that this come to an end.
Posted Jan 17, 2009, 4:41 PM by Puffnstuff
®Copyright 2008 Chrysler LLC. All Rights Reserved.
This is Google's cache of http://blog.chryslerllc.com/blog.do?id=564&p=entry. It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on 20 Jan 2009 21:58:02 GMT. The current page could have changed in the meantime. Learn more
Thank You America
Blog Editor
Comments (249)
Thank you for investing in Chrysler - America's Car Company.
Chrysler is committed to:
Providing cars and trucks you want to buy, enjoy driving, and will want to buy again.
Delivering products with the best quality and value in our Company's history.
Improving fuel economy to support Americas energy security and environmental sustainability.
The United States is home to 74% of our employees and over 3,300 dealers in communities across this country. Of every dollar we spend, 78% is spent here at home. On behalf of the 1 million people who depend on Chrysler for their livelihoods, thank you for investing in Chrysler, and America.
Bob Nardelli
Chairman and CEO, Chrysler LLC
Note: This ad broke 12/22 in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today and a digital online version breaks on 12/23.
Comments (249) | Permalink
Tagged with Corporate Business, Advertising
add to Technorati favorites digg this Post this article to de.licio.us
Comments
Hey Crysler! You're not welcome. You took my hard earned tax dollars without congressional approval. This is not the time for a "thank you." This would be a good time for a refund...and an apology. http://rightklik.net
Posted Dec 27, 2008, 3:19 PM by RightKlik.net
Mr. Nardelli,
It takes a man with a whole lotta chutzpah to thank a person for investing in a company when they had zero voice in the matter.
My elected representatives decided 'no'. The executive branch decided 'yes' through means that might be legal but frankly smell like rotten fish.
You may certainly get my money this way, but you will never see a dime of my money voluntarily spent on any of your products.
Brian Dunbar
Neenah, Wisconsin
Posted Dec 27, 2008, 3:20 PM by bdunbar
Mr Nardelli, Fire your PR and advertising teams and execs immediately. We the People did not want to see any more ads and money wasted on ads, be it from Chrysler, et al, or from your own pocket. You should have put up a website thanking the people and just submitted it to various online news aggregators for free. Once again, I am pained to see you are demonstrating a lack of common sense and fiscal responsibility. We supported the bailout of the car companies, even in the face of the horrendously mismanaged and secretive bailout of banks, and you stlil throw money away in the name of your company. Time to wake up. Sincerely, Matt and the rest of the Internet.
Posted Dec 27, 2008, 3:20 PM by dezmd
I have to say this ad disappointed me. First of all, do you need to spend your precious dollars on expenisve newspaper space? Second of all, it's hard to say "America" is really responsible for granting the bridge loans. One survey said that 61% of Americans were against it. Congress was working against the will of the voters. Let me go through each of the three points: "Providing cars and trucks you want to buy, enjoy driving, and will want to buy again." Well, I wanted to buy a Stratus in 2004. I bought it and enjoy driving it. However, I would not buy a Chrysler again beacuse the new products are lower quality and less visually appealing than their predecessors. "Delivering products with the best quality and value in our Company's history." Based on what I've seen and heard, Chrysler vehicle quality is lower than it was a few years ago. "Improving fuel economy to support Americas energy security and environmental sustainability." Chrysler's current full-size and compact vehicles are LESS fuel efficient than they were in 2003. Chrysler built the cars of my dreams in the 1990s but the latest models are a real let down. Chrysler does not deserve aid until it can present compelling new-generation vehicles. Putting battery packs in the current models dosen't count.
Posted Dec 27, 2008, 3:20 PM by Mwhite
Your resignation and the resignations of senior executives who have mismanaged the business would have been much more appropriate.
Posted Dec 29, 2008, 8:03 PM by California Initiative
Dear Mr. Nardelli and the "over one million people who depend on Chrysler" - You've got some nerve to thank us for our forced "investment" when we didn't want it to happen in the first place. Isn't forced or coerced investment akin to robbery? Taking one's money against one's will? Hmmm . . . . The very thought that MY money is going to go to some union lackey's pockets just makes me queasy. You should've filed for bankruptcy just like any other business in your position would have to. And that would've given you the opportunity to unshackle yourselves from the ridiculous union contracts that you signed on to. You've got two major issues to fix: Unions and quality products. If you'd listen to your customers and NOT the media and marketing types, you'd fix your product issues. And the unions . . . sheesh, get out of that racket! Notice the plants in the South where unions aren't that prominent don't have the same issues as the ones up North? Let's see what happens when MY business tanks. Will YOU throw cash at me? I don't think so. So, in conclusion - to hell with you and your company. Any business that would go begging to the government for a handout has no shame, and deserves to fail. File for Bankruptcy, or crumble!
Posted Dec 29, 2008, 8:03 PM by Richard S.
Mr. Nardelli; You do not need to thank the general public. Bring the company back to profitability and pay back the bridge loan is all the thanks we need. Save your dollars to put into incentive programs to help those that want your product. Don't feel you need to waste it on advertising. Call a news conference and get your voice heard for free if you feel the need again. Open an interactive website for the American people to contact you and get honest answers. Allow us an avenue to express ourselves and really be heard by you. Let us tell you what we want, and build American cars based around that. Its time to make Chrysler, "Our Chrysler", and bring back "Quality is Job One" again. Give me a shout if you need any help. I love my Jeep and will do whatever it takes to continue to support the product that gives me a sense of stability and security I need every time I get in it!
Posted Dec 29, 2008, 8:03 PM by TNAPWife
Mr. Home Depot has now shown that he can take extravagance to another extreme high. Why in the world are you thanking people that didn't want this. You need to spend the money you spent on this ad to bailout one of your line workers whose house is about to go into default. Pay it forward Nardelli we don't need to your hypocrisy!
Posted Dec 29, 2008, 8:03 PM by loco4obx
I'm speechless. And I'm saddened that a corporate management team is so inept at understanding public opinion. Some advice: issue a press release stating that you regret that you made a mistake using taxpayers' money in this manner.
Posted Dec 29, 2008, 8:03 PM by beachwriter
Mr. Nardelli; You do not need to thank the general public. Bring the company back to profitability and pay back the bridge loan is all the thanks we need. Save your dollars to put into incentive programs to help those that want your product. Don't feel you need to waste it on advertising. Call a news conference and get your voice heard for free if you feel the need again. Open an interactive website for the American people to contact you and get honest answers. Allow us an avenue to express ourselves and really be heard by you. Let us tell you what we want, and build American cars based around that. Its time to make Chrysler, "Our Chrysler", and bring back "Quality is Job One" again. Give me a shout if you need any help. I love my Jeep and will do whatever it takes to continue to support the product that gives me a sense of stability and security I need every time I get in it!
Posted Dec 29, 2008, 8:05 PM by TNAPWife
I've been an avid Mopar fan for many years. I've purchased several new vehicles over the past five years and noticed the decline in quality and fuel mileage. The exception has been my 2007 Charger Daytona. The interior design and materials are great and the Hemi gets 26 mpg/hwy! This is a 4000lb car, so tell me why the Avenger, with a 4 cylinder, can only muster 30 mpg/hwy??? This is where Chrylser has failed. Your six cylinder and four cylinder enignes are not meeting the foriegn competitors fuel economy. Heck, Chrylser's four and six cylinders had better ratings ten years ago! You need to focus on two areas; high performance and economy vehicles. Six or seven vehcile max. You've built a following with the Hemi in the Ram, Challenger and Charger, your Mopar parts division and Jeep. Get the ENVI vehicles buillt ASAP and market them NOW to help change the public's perception of your company as only building Ram trucks. These are the only commericals I see anymore! I can't even remember the last time I saw a TV ad for the Avenger/Sebring! And when you advertise the HEMI, mention the fuel mileage... everyone thinks they get 10 miles to the gallon at best. You can make this company succeed. Just wake up and be smart about your future plans. Kurt B Omaha, NE
Posted Dec 29, 2008, 8:05 PM by PlumKrz70
Bob Nardelli - thanking Americans for stealing their money is NOT something to boast about on your website. The American public DID speak when we choose to NOT buy your cars. Why not spend the money by showing us something compelling that people would "want" to buy. I have NEVER hear anyone excited about "buying a chrysler." You have no brand strength and this current "Thank You" ad will further your branding problems.
Posted Dec 30, 2008, 11:44 AM by Alvin P. Sams
My response to being forced to bail Chrysler out was to immediately purchase a FORD Focus and I will NEVER buy any car that Chrysler has anything to do with. This ad you ran "thanking" us was an example of you wasting OUR money.
Posted Dec 30, 2008, 11:44 AM by redwood tree
Dear Chrysler, I'd like to thank you. You have now completely converted me to a 100% foreign car owner from this point forward. I was, emphasis on was, a proud owner of a 2006 Dodge Ram Quad-Cab 4X4 with a Hemi. As you are well aware it is among the more expensive models of vehicles you sell. After seeing the parent comapny of Dodge falter and beg for money from the US Tax payers, I am no longer proud to own this vehicle. In fact, I will finish paying off my loan and proceed to my nearest Mini Dealership or Nissan Dealership and buy my next car there when it comes time. Why? Not because I don't like the truck. I do not approve of the money that was given to you by our President. I do not approve of the slap in the face I felt when I read your ad. Why did you need to take a bail out? Poor management. This ad just goes to show that you and your company has not learned anything, and like the rest of the US I am upset. This opportunity was squandered, by you and your incompetance. For the sake of my tax dollars I hope you succeed with a restructure like the late 70s early 80s when you received your first bail-out. However, with the poor decisions of this ad I forsee a bad investment on the horizon by the US Government.
Posted Dec 30, 2008, 11:44 AM by Jasen Hicks
Obviously nothing has changed. Chrysler is still making stupid decisions by wasting its stolen taxpayer money on useless ads. I will never, ever even consider buying a Chrysler. Chrysler makes nothing but JUNK, and has rightfully earned its poor reputation. Mr. Nardelli, do yourself and Chrysler a favor and resign.
Posted Dec 30, 2008, 11:44 AM by BuyJapanese
Thank You? Kiss mine you looters. I had ZERO choice in the matter. The money was taken from me by FORCE of GOVERNMENT and given to you. Ads like this reaffirm my decesion to buy a Honda last year. Bottom line Chrysler- I WILL NEVER BUY FROM A COMPANY THAT POINTS A GUN TO MY HEAD AND THEN SAYS THANKS. This ad infuraties me. Rot in hell scumbags.
Posted Dec 30, 2008, 8:03 PM by Lede Agenda
Though I will not go as far as to demand the resignation of the upper management at Chrysler, I have to say I am quite disappointed in this ad. The most poignant point is in reference to the audacious claim "Providing cars and trucks you want to buy, enjoy driving, and will want to buy again." I am a Jeep, owner, I have owned Jeep vehicles since I was 16 years old, and would like to own another one. I along with so many others would like a 4 cyl diesel Jeep wrangler. This has been mentioned a ridiculous amount of times in the Blog as well as many serious Jeep forums on the internet. Just do a web search for "Diesel Jeep" and you will see how many people have turned their Jeeps into an Isuzu, a Nissan or a Volvo, because the wanted a small efficient Diesel engine in their Jeep. You produce the Jeeps we want but don't offer them in the US market due to claims of emissions concerns, yet the 6 cyl in the Grand Cherokee seems to be fine. You make the J8 which is probably every Jeep owners Dream Jeep, throw in a manual transmission instead of the auto, and it would be the exact definition of my Dream Jeep. I don't appreciate being thanked for something I don't control, and being told "Providing cars and trucks you want to buy, enjoy driving, and will want to buy again." When you turn a deaf ear to everyone asking for something quite specific and well within the means of the company. Alex Current YJ, and former XJ owner.
Posted Dec 30, 2008, 8:03 PM by Alex
What a great way to spend the taxpayer money!!! Spend hundreds of thousands if not a milliion to put full page ads in news papers all over the country. The NYT add alone cost over $200,000!!! I will never buy a Chrystler vehicle!! You guys suck!!! If I make mistakes in my finincal situation I have to fix them. You should bite the bullet and fix your own problems.
Posted Dec 30, 2008, 8:03 PM by cherky76
I heard about your CEO's ad buy in major newspapers "thanking America" for the recent loans.
What an absurd waste of money!
Make efficient cars with good MPG. The most fuel efficient car in the Chrysler lineup is the 2009 Chrysler Sebring at 21/30 highway.
(http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/2008car1tablef.jsp?id=25964)
Ridiculous!
In the meantime, thanking the American taxpayer for being the victim of a blatant theft, with the money you stole, is quite a bit much.
Good work. Now I wouldn't buy a Chrysler if they didn't suck.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 8:25 AM by andrewc
You suck Chrysler / hope you all lose your jobs and go bankrupt!!!!!!!!
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 8:25 AM by THAnkMYA$$$$$$$$$$$$$
I have only had Chrysler vehicles, currently own a 2007 Sebring and 2005 Pacifica. However these are my last Chrysler vehicles, I cannot believe the waste of money in this ad buy. This ad is a huge percentage of wasted tax money.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by KKF925
Mr. Nardelli,
While I am not a fan of US steel I do appreciate your point of view, I do believe that GM is more desreving of the low interest loan BUT as you both contribute to the US economy and therefor the WORLDs I can forgive the actions taken in these troubled times... I understand the pressure placed upon your company to produce eco-terrorist vehicles ie: hybrids and the like even though they contribute very little (apart from marketing jazz) to your bottom line... I am happy to see that you MAY now survive to fight another day as we do need to preserve the few remaining clasic marques that still live on,,, RIP : Olds, Triumph, Wools, Stud... etc.... desperate time and all that aside if you can drop those "baggage brands" to others (Chine/India) who can manage the risk then I belive that your TWO real brands (plus one new one) can rise from the ashes and take their place in history. PT MUST be a brand in it's own... maybe not in the US but worldwide..... think Scion...... grow the fun, low price retro and "cough cough" hybrid fun! 300 is great but old, major refresh to recover sales, hybrid if you must.... but only if you must.... Strength with Mitsi's small A-B-C is required with new tophats but better Hyudai engines will help... Quality will sell. see FORD.... PS: your marketing guys are your weak point; please think twice before spending any money no matter many warm fuzzies you think you may earn from the US people, you are a begger (no offence) please do not forget this as the tax payer will not. Regards, Friendly Forigner
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Paradox
Are you kidding me? Spending nearly a quarter million dollars on ONE ad, much less countless nationwide??? Good lord, you people just don't get it and honestly deserve to fail miserably. There is no Lee Iococca to save Chrysler now, and thank goodness for that.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by ChryslerDoesntGetIT
Bunch of scumbags...Nardopey and Cerberdolts can stick it...the VAST majority of the American public is against any sort of bailout for you or GM and yet you steal our money anyway...Are you and the other CEOs and investment bankers going to come bail me out when I lose my job?? Didn't think so...I'll NEVER buy a Chrysler or GM product--EVER--and either will any of my current or future family members I will make sure of it...
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by spalind
Bunch of scumbags...Nardopey and Cerberdolts can stick it...the VAST majority of the American public is against any sort of bailout for you or GM and yet you steal our money anyway...Are you and the other CEOs and investment bankers going to come bail me out when I lose my job?? Didn't think so...I'll NEVER buy a Chrysler or GM product--EVER--and either will any of my current or future family members I will make sure of it...
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by spalind
Dear Mr. Nardelli, Those of us that were not mislead by the media in calling the loan a bailout are happy that your company and all the subsidiaries now have the chance to right the wrongs of the past. Now your focus needs to be reducing the power that the UAW holds over your industry! Foreign manufacturers quality has declined since plants have opened in the U.S.... why..? Not because of lazy workers but because of the UAW demanding their ridiculous contractual obligations! EVERYONE needs to be held accountable and eliminating some of the strangle-hold the unions have on your company will help. American cars have the quality the competitors have only the entirely mislead by the media claiming they don't! Unfortunately the majority of the people are lemmings and will only listen to what they're told so it's not surprising that perception's reality! Keep building great vehicles and keep your heads up! Normally, as a rule, the only people that will leave a comment are those with a complaint... the same people that don't understand you received a loan, to be repaid, and NOT a bailout! Good day!
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Vinny Fins
Dear Mr. Nardelli, Those of us that were not mislead by the media in calling the loan a bailout are happy that your company and all the subsidiaries now have the chance to right the wrongs of the past. Now your focus needs to be reducing the power that the UAW holds over your industry! Foreign manufacturers quality has declined since plants have opened in the U.S.... why..? Not because of lazy workers but because of the UAW demanding their ridiculous contractual obligations! EVERYONE needs to be held accountable and eliminating some of the strangle-hold the unions have on your company will help. American cars have the quality the competitors have only the entirely mislead by the media claiming they don't! Unfortunately the majority of the people are lemmings and will only listen to what they're told so it's not surprising that perception's reality! Keep building great vehicles and keep your heads up! Normally, as a rule, the only people that will leave a comment are those with a complaint... the same people that don't understand you received a loan, to be repaid, and NOT a bailout! Good day!
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Vinny Fins
What a total waste of money. That useless ad money could have been put into research and development to make better quality and fuel efficient vehicles. This has got to be the most expensive thank you card ever written, providing better products would be just as sufficient.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by zetasoul
What a total waste of money. That useless ad money could have been put into research and development to make better quality and fuel efficient vehicles. This has got to be the most expensive thank you card ever written, providing better products would be just as sufficient.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by zetasoul
What a total waste of money. That useless ad money could have been put into research and development to make better quality and fuel efficient vehicles. This has got to be the most expensive thank you card ever written, providing better products would be just as sufficient.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by zetasoul
Dear Mr. Nardelli, Those of us that were not mislead by the media in calling the loan a bailout are happy that your company and all the subsidiaries now have the chance to right the wrongs of the past. Now your focus needs to be reducing the power that the UAW holds over your industry! Foreign manufacturers quality has declined since plants have opened in the U.S.... why..? Not because of lazy workers but because of the UAW demanding their ridiculous contractual obligations! EVERYONE needs to be held accountable and eliminating some of the strangle-hold the unions have on your company will help. American cars have the quality the competitors have only the entirely mislead by the media claiming they don't! Unfortunately the majority of the people are lemmings and will only listen to what they're told so it's not surprising that perception's reality! Keep building great vehicles and keep your heads up! Normally, as a rule, the only people that will leave a comment are those with a complaint... the same people that don't understand you received a loan, to be repaid, and NOT a bailout! Good day!
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Vinny Fins
What a total waste of money. That useless ad money could have been put into research and development to make better quality and fuel efficient vehicles. This has got to be the most expensive thank you card ever written, providing better products would be just as sufficient.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by zetasoul
What a total waste of money. That useless ad money could have been put into research and development to make better quality and fuel efficient vehicles. This has got to be the most expensive thank you card ever written, providing better products would be just as sufficient.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by zetasoul
Chrysler used to be such a great car company. I've had the sad experience of working with them as part of their supply chain for the past couple of decades, and I've watched them go from a first class innovator that treated its suppliers and customers with the care and the respect that anybody who has a stake in the enterprise deserves, to easy pickings when times got tough. Just as Chrysler chips away at content and cheapens its cars in ways they hope the customer won't notice, they continually beat up their suppliers on cost and search for ever cheaper stuff in China or India. I used to love owning Chryslers and being associated with their business in some small way. Honestly, Bob, you guys broke my heart before this bailout business ever happened. And, to make things right, imagine that you literally scrape by like the rest of us. Your paycheck runs out at the end of the month, and your kids' college tuition keeps you up at night. Then, imagine that your second biggest investment (a car) will require sacrifices in groceries, entertainment, etc for about five years. Honestly, it's a big chunk of your monthly outlay, so you are hoping to make it last eight or ten years. Are you really going to gamble on a Compass, and hope that the quality and residual won't get you later, or are you going to play it safe and buy a Honda CRV? For real folks making real wages, buying a car is a big deal. It would be nice to buy American for the good of the country, but I'm sure most people have to do the best thing for their families first. A lot of people have gone out the door, and the only way to get them back is to build a better product than Honda. After all, if they're pretty happy with their Hondas, they won't give you guys the time of day otherwise. Come to think of it, you could say the same thing about your supply base, which these days won't deal with you unless they have to. Do yourself a favor Bob, and buy yourself a Compass and a CRV. Drive them on alternating days, and take notes about each. Tell your engineers and purchasing folks what you find out. Then, you can make good on your promises.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Mikey
Chrysler used to be such a great car company. I've had the sad experience of working with them as part of their supply chain for the past couple of decades, and I've watched them go from a first class innovator that treated its suppliers and customers with the care and the respect that anybody who has a stake in the enterprise deserves, to easy pickings when times got tough. Just as Chrysler chips away at content and cheapens its cars in ways they hope the customer won't notice, they continually beat up their suppliers on cost and search for ever cheaper stuff in China or India. I used to love owning Chryslers and being associated with their business in some small way. Honestly, Bob, you guys broke my heart before this bailout business ever happened. And, to make things right, imagine that you literally scrape by like the rest of us. Your paycheck runs out at the end of the month, and your kids' college tuition keeps you up at night. Then, imagine that your second biggest investment (a car) will require sacrifices in groceries, entertainment, etc for about five years. Honestly, it's a big chunk of your monthly outlay, so you are hoping to make it last eight or ten years. Are you really going to gamble on a Compass, and hope that the quality and residual won't get you later, or are you going to play it safe and buy a Honda CRV? For real folks making real wages, buying a car is a big deal. It would be nice to buy American for the good of the country, but I'm sure most people have to do the best thing for their families first. A lot of people have gone out the door, and the only way to get them back is to build a better product than Honda. After all, if they're pretty happy with their Hondas, they won't give you guys the time of day otherwise. Come to think of it, you could say the same thing about your supply base, which these days won't deal with you unless they have to. Do yourself a favor Bob, and buy yourself a Compass and a CRV. Drive them on alternating days, and take notes about each. Tell your engineers and purchasing folks what you find out. Then, you can make good on your promises.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Mikey
Chrysler used to be such a great car company. I've had the sad experience of working with them as part of their supply chain for the past couple of decades, and I've watched them go from a first class innovator that treated its suppliers and customers with the care and the respect that anybody who has a stake in the enterprise deserves, to easy pickings when times got tough. Just as Chrysler chips away at content and cheapens its cars in ways they hope the customer won't notice, they continually beat up their suppliers on cost and search for ever cheaper stuff in China or India. I used to love owning Chryslers and being associated with their business in some small way. Honestly, Bob, you guys broke my heart before this bailout business ever happened. And, to make things right, imagine that you literally scrape by like the rest of us. Your paycheck runs out at the end of the month, and your kids' college tuition keeps you up at night. Then, imagine that your second biggest investment (a car) will require sacrifices in groceries, entertainment, etc for about five years. Honestly, it's a big chunk of your monthly outlay, so you are hoping to make it last eight or ten years. Are you really going to gamble on a Compass, and hope that the quality and residual won't get you later, or are you going to play it safe and buy a Honda CRV? For real folks making real wages, buying a car is a big deal. It would be nice to buy American for the good of the country, but I'm sure most people have to do the best thing for their families first. A lot of people have gone out the door, and the only way to get them back is to build a better product than Honda. After all, if they're pretty happy with their Hondas, they won't give you guys the time of day otherwise. Come to think of it, you could say the same thing about your supply base, which these days won't deal with you unless they have to. Do yourself a favor Bob, and buy yourself a Compass and a CRV. Drive them on alternating days, and take notes about each. Tell your engineers and purchasing folks what you find out. Then, you can make good on your promises.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Mikey
I signed up just to add comments in response to your ad of properly slapping the American public in the face with insensitivity and pride. Money that was "taken" from the American people wasted on advertising thanking the people the money was taken from is audacious. I don't know whether to loathe you for your insensitivity in the matter or praise you for your boldness. Clearly the move this advertising campaign was dreamed up and approved by individuals who has not contact with the average American. The problem with your company and that of many American companies is the ridiculous financial separation of upper management from that of the average middle income American. Your outrageous income and ability to choose to isolate yourselves mentally, financially, and emotionally from the consumer you serve has lead to the financial ruin of your company. However, I'm sure this is of no concern to you or your upper management team because even if your company fail, you will have your golden parachute stitched with the money taken from the pockets of people who are loosing their homes, their jobs, and their ability to provide for their family (some of these people work for your company). SHAME! I wish no major company to fail. Not because I would like to see your monetary status to succeed, but primarily so that those who depend on their incomes to live from working on the line at the bottom or the middle to continue to work. You want to thank the American people? Do you really want to know how to change public perception about the management of your company and the direction that you want to go? Forgo your executive pay and that of all executives until the company returns to profitability. Reduce upper management pay by 50%. Cut any upper or executive management positions that has been fruitless (you know, your friends). It looks and is foolish for millionaires to continue to earn pay for managing a company that needs a bailout. Do the right thing and either quit or forgo your pay and actually put forth effort without pay until your company earns the money to pay you and your executives for their talents of running a successful business. Yes, I am American and No you sir, are not welcome. Now go do what's right. Directions above!
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Folk
Way to blow hundreds of thousands of dollars on a useless ad campaign that will surely only worsen your public image. We weren't buying your cars before because they are all gas guzzling, unreliable, uninteresting cars that look like they were styled by the coleman plastic cooler division, inside and out. So then you steal our money through the government so you can waste more of it on useless ads, and you have the audacity to remind us all about it. Go to hell Chrysler. I was not going to buy one of your vehicles before, and I certainly am never going to do so after this.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by ARH
I guess chrysler is also commited to stealing our money and then wasting it on stuff like this. Its unbelievable you take money from people that worked hard for it, and then turn around and throw it at a marketing campaign to show 'us' that you are 'americas car company'. Well, if you didnt know, no one wants your trash, thats why you (and other american autos) are going under. Pay us back what you stole in interest, and then make something that doesnt suck if you want to stay in business.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by guyinva
I had a Dodge Caliber as a rental and it was the worst car I've ever driven, inside and out it is both poorly designed from a functional and aesthetic perspective. After 2 weeks in that car, terrified to drive in rain or at night, I thought it was a stunning example of why Chrysler makes horrible products and will inevitably fail as a company. Then, you hear RIDICULOUS things like this. Why would anyone buy a new Chrysler, even at half off prices, when you could get a CPO german or asian car for the same price that is exponentially better.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by nnnick
Thanks Nardellu, my current Dakota will be my last Chysler ever. A few weeks ago I bought my wife a nissan because the even though she liked the calibers I refuse to buy from a company as badly mismanaged as Chrysler. My next truck will be a Ford.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by jessbaka
I had a Dodge Caliber as a rental and it was the worst car I've ever driven, inside and out it is both poorly designed from a functional and aesthetic perspective. After 2 weeks in that car, terrified to drive in rain or at night, I thought it was a stunning example of why Chrysler makes horrible products and will inevitably fail as a company. Then, you hear RIDICULOUS things like this. Why would anyone buy a new Chrysler, even at half off prices, when you could get a CPO german or asian car for the same price that is exponentially better.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by nnnick
I signed up just to add comments in response to your ad of properly slapping the American public in the face with insensitivity and pride. Money that was "taken" from the American people wasted on advertising thanking the people the money was taken from is audacious. I don't know whether to loathe you for your insensitivity in the matter or praise you for your boldness. Clearly the move this advertising campaign was dreamed up and approved by individuals who has no contact with the average American. The problem with your company and that of many American companies is the ridiculous financial separation of upper management from that of the average middle income American. Your outrageous income and ability to choose to isolate yourselves mentally, financially, and emotionally from the consumer you serve has lead to the financial ruin of your company. However, I'm sure this is of no concern to you or your upper management team because even if your company fail, you will have your golden parachute stitched with the money taken from the pockets of people who are loosing their homes, their jobs, and their ability to provide for their family (some of these people work for your company). SHAME! I wish no major company to fail. Not because I would like to see your monetary status to succeed, but primarily so that those who depend on their incomes to live from working on the line at the bottom or the middle to continue to work. You want to thank the American people? Do you really want to know how to change public perception about the management of your company and the direction that you want to go? Forgo your executive pay and that of all executives until the company returns to profitability. Reduce upper management pay by 50%. Cut any upper or executive management positions that has been fruitless (you know, your friends). It looks and is foolish for millionaires to continue to earn pay for managing a company that needs a bailout. Do the right thing and either quit or forgo your pay and actually put forth effort without pay until your company earns the money to pay you and your executives for their talents of running a successful business. Yes, I am American and No you sir, are not welcome. Now go do what's right. Directions above!
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Folk
We were forced to help you. Thank us by acting responsible for a change. This ad is the equivalent to salt poured on an open wound. If you had any common sense, you would be ashamed.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Ironhorse
We were forced to help you. Thank us by acting responsible for a change. This ad is the equivalent to salt poured on an open wound. If you had any common sense, you would be ashamed.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by Ironhorse
Dear Chrysler LLC, Kiss my taxpayer back-side! You are not welcome, ever! Thank you for killing off a car (Stratus) that was one of best American mid-sizes! Thank you for the Caliber, a noisey, chincey interior, POS! Thank you for the Avenger, wow...back to the Stratus please! Thank you for the mini-van...oh wait that is the only thing you have going for you! Thank you for taking my money and blowing it on this add. Thank you for moving many of your factories out of our country, even though cheaper labor is within our borders, ASK HONDA OR TOYOTA! On a good note, thank you for knowing how to make an engine, how about a quality ride to go with it? Finally, thank you for taking our money and never being able to repay it, as the Pentastar will fade faster than a supernova. Off the Honda dealership I go, to trade in my Dodge and never look back!
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by penta_nomore
Clueless!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by comdial
Let's break this out into chronological order beginning will the fall of the Town and Country: 1. Soccer Moms ditch the Minivans for CUVs, Pacifica debuts about 2 year later 2. Plymouth killed, PT Cruiser added which is a hit 3. Despite some profitable models, still posted a huge loss in 2006, about the same time the Crossfire was bombing 4. Chrysler renews Crossfire model despite being one of the worst selling roadsters on the market 5. Fuel prices starts to rise, Chrysler focuses on the launch of the Challenger model 6. Cerebrus, a private firm, buys 80% of Chrysler to ease finacial woes 7. Chrysler receives a second chance, continues to ignore fuel prices and focus on ineffecient, rear wheel drive models 8. The shit hits the fan in Summer of 2008 when gas prices hit a record high and their most efficient vehicle is also the worst reviewed, the Sebring. 9. Chrysler follows the big three to congress that fall to do some panhandling. What no one seems to notice is that they are now owned by a company with billions of dollars. This is the equivalant of showing up for a loan with no paperwork on your current assets but arrive in a private jet. Oh wait, that happened too.... 9. Chrysler (or the US taxpayers) takes out thousands of dollars worth of ads to thank US citizens for their help. 10. America responds, "We didn't want to help you, we don't want your cars, and congress didn't even have to approve this bailout for it to happen. It took a president with the lowest approval rating ever to do it."
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by skaspy
Did we pay for this or did Cerebrus? How come no one noticed that this company is owned by a firm that has billions of dollars?
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 11:27 AM by skaspy
Depending on placement, full page ads placed in the Wall Street journal can cost over $200,000, not to mention the other publications where this ad was placed. So, at least a quarter of a million dollars of our money was spent on an ad thanking us for our contribution. A contribution that the majority did not want to make. This ad screams "Hey, look what we are doing with your tax dollars, lol." This ad is yet another example of frivolous and clueless spending. Thank us by using OUR money to make your company profitable, not with a meaningless ad. As the old saying goes,"Actions speak louder than words."
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 2:21 PM by Atlantis
I too registered today to simply express my disappointment in the managerial staff at Chrysler LLC. Misappropriated spending and a failed outlook for more effecient vehicles has severely impacted the American consumer confidence in supporting your products. I try and remain nuetral for the sake being an American but Chrysler has really forced their hand in this matter with their "Mr. Me Too" attitude threatening reductions in work force and plant closures to tap into the bailout fund. Chrysler management needs an overhaul. Why pay one executive 9 million dollars annually who refuses to "jet commute" to Congress and set a true example of an effort to reduce spending before Congress? Why pay another executive just as much if not more who isn't doing s#!t? The subordinates are true to the grind of survival. Chrysler has lost a alot of basic values which We, the American people learn as children; lead by example, do unto others and others do unto you, and most of all - COMMON SENSE. After 9-11 I swore to never purchase another import vehicle but guess what - you just shipped my a$$ right back across the world to support the very people who plan to take us off the face of planet earth. Let me define MORON for you per Websters - a very stupid person!!!!! This case in point being you - Chrysler. Go cry to your billionaire mamie, Cerebus, for some extra cash to piss off.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 2:21 PM by The KarFanatik
Well a lot of what has been said here on the page is agreeable but on the same token we have to look at the bigger side of our US work force. We need all the jobs we can get in this country because Bush is losing our ass and we are losing jobs right and left. Hey look around you how many empty stores do you have by you? I have 14 just on the north side of town. Im glad that some company’s are trying to stay open and fight for our country. Now as for making the right business decisions every time that will never happen I don’t care who they are, Yes even Wal-mart has done stupid things. Did any of you know that they spent millions on a pet salons and close them shortly after the were open because people were bring their pets into the store.. Duh.. Of course that is going to happen. SO we have to take their mistakes and success and hope that we all learn from them just as we do at home, or more people will be out of a jobs and them less people will be working in the US and that is what none of us want. I’m American and I want to live like one … I’m tried Of seeing MADE IN CHINA and MADE IN MEXICO. How about YOU?
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 2:21 PM by fishguy_80
Nardelli = Fail.
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 3:08 PM by Lsearles
Not very smart --- if you were, you would not be sopending tax payer money on self gratification -- stop adveritsing and start saving your pennies --- you have a lot of poeple to lay off when you blow through money that Bush gave --- Obama will want it back!
Posted Dec 31, 2008, 4:42 PM by bostonmccoy
Okay: Guess I'm the weird one, but I think it was okay to thank the American people. After all, at least you THOUGHT and APPRECIATED it enough to express gratitude. What about AIG and the others, who took those extravagant vacations after their TRUE bailout??? Here's to a much better 2009, for us all.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by jilly
I think the Thank you was a great idea. It would be nice for every person connected to employment in the automotive industry to say thank you to every person driving an american made car. Thank you to those who BUY AMERICAN!
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by Corie
I OWN a dodge, had my choice of anything out there....chevy leaves you standing on the side of the road, ford is ok but my dodge has made me a happy owner. I have owned 2, the first one a tree fell on or I'd still have it too. If your wanted to "save the country" then why are you even on this site? I want to keep our jobs here in America, but you saying things that don't even pass as making sense make me sick. The ad made an american company money, yet your complaining. I was taught it was proper to thank someone when they help you, not listen to trash talk on thier own site about an ad. Nice manners.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by Sue
#1: Don't thank me - it was NOT my decision.
#2: Now that you have it, stop wasting my money on useless advertising.
#3: Regorganize at your Sr. Exec. level - cut those jobs and salaries BEFORE you cut anything else.
#4: Hire some visionaries who have the courage to make changes and NOT keep everything status quo.
#5: Trim your brands - keep your best, eliminate your worst - now, not later.
#6: Use the 20/80 rule for decision making.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by kwanyinri
UNBELIEVABLE!!! A slap in the face to all Americans.Your ignorance cemented my belief that both your company AND G.M. will ultimately fail. I hope nobody buys your junk. Pay attention Ford, the bitterness over this reward for your incompetence could be the straw that will ultimately break the camel's back. Neither company will get another dime from me!!!
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by grover
To everyone griping about YOUR TAX DOLLARS being used: I'm with the UAW and those are my tax dollars too. THANK YOU MR. NARDELLI, for thanking the public for the LOAN. Its the right thing to do. Mr. Nardelli: thank you for your dedication on Capital Hill. I really respected your knowledge of the situation and humble attitutude. Some of the senators dug into you and you handled it very well. My tax dollars go to alot of welfare recipients, medical care, and food stamps that I will never be eligible for: and I am not complaining. I PRAY Chyrsler gets back on their feet. The Automakers ARE the USA. They set the standard of living wages for all of us. The foreign car makers make what they do because of the USA automakers. You people here do not get it. THE auto industry is failing, not due to the EXECs, simply due to the economy. thanks again, Mr. Nardelli : )
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by mrs beasley
I don't understand the bail out. People can't buy new cars right now. There are to many people out of work. Just who is going to buy? Our tax money should have been spent on thengs to get this country back on track such as Jobs. Also it really makes me mad at you for spending 's that should not be. You should have been thinking about the company instead of how many home you have-jets-bonsus-. I am tired of seeing all the money going into one or two people pockett's and the workers getting screwed. Jobs need to come back to the States. This country has gone to hell in a hand basket. Our Taxes need to go to the people of this country. We need to shut our borders and get our peole back to work.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by Saba20
Had a really incredible 1971 Challenger with Torqueflite behind a 318. It was probably the best car I ever owned, and It managed to squeeze 22 miles from a gallon of gasoline. Several Mopars later they were getting progressively higher in price and lower in quality. I believe it was the result of two major problems: 1) Big business execs who think so much of themselves that the biggest executive decision they make every year is how big a bonus to give themselves, and 2) Lazy union autoworkers who do as little as possible for outrageous wages to turn out inferior products. That caustic combinatiojn brewing and stewing over the past 15 to 20 years, led me to make the decision to stop buying Mopar products. Now I find that I'm being forced by the government to pay for them anyway! WHAT A SLAP IN THE FACE OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC TO BE "THANKED" BY ADS THAT COST HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF THEIR HARD EARNED DOLLARS! No, wait! I have an idea: How about you just give me a car, pay the taxes on it, then send me a check for twenty or thirty thousand dollars and enclose a SASE? Then I'll send you back a really nice thank you note!
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by OkieDave
I bought a 1985 Chrysler LeBaron (well, leased it actually). That turned out to be the smartest move I've ever made, because I got to give it back to you guys after the lease expired. I lost one power window every 7,000 miles, a turbocharger at 21,000 miles, and a head gasket at 51,000 miles just after the warranty expired. To your credit, you (Chrysler, that is) replaced the head gasket under warranty, but come on! How long have cars had head gaskets? You mean to tell me you couldn't make one that lasted 150,000 - 200,000 miles, like they did in the '70's? And whe I go the car back, it had an extra 55 miles on it. I suspect that the sales crew was using my car to run their cocaine delivery, but I can't prove it. But as a mechanic I DO know that yuo don't have to drive a car for 55 miles to see if the head gasket is put on right. I almost got a personalized plate of N8V JUNK, but decided not to spend one more dime on that POS. And the dealer wondered why I ran out of the showroom when I got to give that thing back...
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by Wild Eyed Charlie
The ads may not have been the brightest move in the world, but I do think the intention was correct. When someone does something nice for you it is considered polite to show gratitude, and to me it looks like this was the intention. I suppose the money maybe should have been spent elsewhere, but if you don't say thank you they seem like ingrates. Perhaps these guys should be given a pass on this criticism. They are struggling for survival.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by bigdog1965
"thank us" by giving us a comparatively competitive *QUALITY* product, or thank us by giving a discount if we should choose to buy. for many of us who don't own an American make, but whose taxpayer money is keeping manufacturers afloat, you can thank us by giving something back to charity/community or something else in general.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:22 AM by xxchimerxx
It wasn't enough for you to run Home Depot into the ground, you had to take down a domestic auto manufacturer down too? Nardelli, you're a piece of work, I often wish American culture mirrored Japanese culture in the generational shame brought about by a family member.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:23 AM by pliablemoose
You really do not get it do you? Honestly I am looking at a Kia after almost 20 years of driving a Chrysler van and mostly because you waste money on things like this. It is time to have you close your doors... or maybe for someone like Kia to buy you out and dump the management that makes decisions like this. Bob Furr
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 10:23 AM by robear1053
It looks like nothing has changed. Goodby Chrysler. This is the exact reason most business fail, not because of the employees, but because of poor management of business and money.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 11:44 AM by Moparbroken
No they don't get it. After I made the mistake of buying a 97 dodge ram cc which was a giant pile of garbage, problematic at every turn I gave up on dodge. The dealer couldn't fix it and calling their corporate customer service was a joke. Now they take the tax dollars I didn't want to give them and they want to thank me after costing me thousands of dollars already? Hey chrysler there's a reason that a toyota and a honda are sitting in my driveway right now. You and your other domestic car makers have already had your chances with me and you've blown it big time. My kids don't want your stuff either. Collectively the big 3 have cost me thousands of dollars and lots of hours of frustration and wasted time taking your junk back to the dealer for warranty work that shouldn't have been required on a new vehicle. Toyota and honda have never done that to me and I've never had to get a loaner because they had to be kept at the dealer for more than one day. My 08 honda has never been to the dealer for any warranty work. My 06 toyota tundra has never made the transmission shake the truck in reverse and howl like the dodge ram did. Oh and the rear end on my ram howled and after the regional rep had the dealer rebuild the rear end it howled even worse. Chrysler what you should've received from the government was instructions on how to file for bankruptcy. You claim to be american yet you outsource jobs to mexico just like the other two domestic companies. The fact that you are owned by a private investment firm that refuses to give you cash speaks volumes to me.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 11:44 AM by Puffnstuff
Mr. Nardelli, thank you for your hard work and effort into saving an American company. Please pay no attention to the nay sayers who berate Chrysler or your latest Thank You ad. I find these folks upset at the ad are only upset that the loan was approved. They do not understand that this money was already approved and appropriated for the car companies. So their complaints about the money being stolen from them is a joke. They also fail to understand that the auto industry (domestic included) is suffering from poor judgements made during the Clinton Administration. Matter of factly, the economic downturn can be contributed solely to the fact that they forced Banks (under CRA) to make risky loans to underqualified individuals. This single handedly causes a chain effect with almost stopped the banking industry in it's tracks. I hear no one complaining the banks were receiving assistance to keep the banking industry alive and running. This assistance is even being see in other major countries as well. They fail to comprehend that the bridge loan is not a wall to help the auto industry being it has been mismanaged but instead because they realize they mismanaged our government enough to affect the auto industry. This is where the true blame lies, but folks don't want to admit their guy put us in this mess. For those that don't understand, let me put it to you like this. You go to the bank to get out some grocery money and you find out, all the banks have closed, gone out of business, or simply have a sign that reads in the window "No more money." What do you do? You have worked hard, put away and saved your hard earned money, and did everything right, but you are still without cash. You still have to put food on the table and pay your bills, but through no fault of your own, the system broke down affecting how you (personally) could conduct your business. Did you mismanage your personal finances? No....... This is the argument we hear today. The auto industry wasn't granted this bridge loan because it was popular. It was done because it was needed. Many just dont understand the complexity of the issue, the true facts behind what occurred and what is at stake. We know politicians and they would not have given these loans if A) they didn't think they would get it back, B) it was the right thing to do. So thank you from the public. We need to support America and stop blaming American union workers for what they believe is the cause for their lot in life. We should cheer the fine quality of cars we produce at a fair competative price to those of even the best foreign cars. Our domestics have been getting high marks in quality and fuel efficiency however, it is hard to overcome the foreign is better mentality people seem to cling to. Keep up the good work. Keep making cars people want, and you will continue to be successful.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:06 PM by bop_pa
Puffnstuff, if you have Toyota and a Honda in the drive, you must not really have needed a truck, which would make you a posier. Every one I have known who bought a foreign truck has complained about the poor fuel economy, the bad turning radius and ride. Cling to your love of foreign cars, but real car guys will tell you the foreign trucks are the real garbage, just wrapped up in a pretty bow.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:06 PM by bop_pa
I wouldn't have given Chrysler or GM a nickel. I was forced to by our ruling class known as CONgress. For too long you have produced some of the worst cars on the face of the earth. Instead of nature taking it's course and weeding out the weak (Chysler), your poor excuse for a company is put on life support at the taxpayers expense. How does it feel to be a welfare recipient Nardelli?
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:06 PM by ctpatriot
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:06 PM by Stargazer
You are NOT welcome! Chapter 7 liquidation for Chrysler now.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:06 PM by PissedOff!
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:06 PM by AtlasShrugged
You are most emphatically *not* welcome. I didn't invest in Chrysler. To the contrary, in a totally counterdemocratic manner, Chrysler has held a gun to America's head while looting the US Treasury. An investment requires that the investor have at least some hopes of gaining return on their capital. US taxpayers will not see any return because Chrysler, counter to its claimed mission, today produces only garbage. This is no investment; it is a bonfire. Chrysler will be done as soon as these "loans" are due, if not sooner. I will never purchase another Chrysler product as long as I live. I hope my 2000 XJ (which saw a complete suspension/wheel/tire replacement, significant body modification, a complete engine overhaul, a refactoring of the underbody armor kit and the installation of a replacement music/navigation system before it could be called "trail-worthy") lasts forever, but when it needs to be replaced, it will be succeeded by a Toyota FJ because Toyota is not a bunch of unskilled unionized thieves. Hope you choke, Vincent
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:06 PM by cocom
Mr. Nardelli, Have you ever heard the saying, "Actions speak louder than words."? Well, the the millions of tax payer dollars you spent on this add campaign says everything we need to know!!!!!
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:07 PM by westcott
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:43 PM by AtlasShrugged
Thanks for nothing. The money for this advertising campaign would have been better spent for Chapter 7.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:43 PM by Zoom
Had Chrysler chosen to honor its warranty on a series of defective OEM ancillaries and a bad head gasket on our Dodge Caravan, we might be sympathetic. As it is, you could not fail soon enough. Aftermarket parts are just fine, thanks.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:43 PM by BadHeadGasket
You're not welcome.
I'm boycotting you. My whole family is boycotting you. My mother and my father, my brothers and sisters, my sons and daughters.Just thought I'd let you know.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 4:43 PM by Jonn
I hope John Snow, personally paid for this dishonorable, deplorable advertisement that only acknowledges the THEFT of the American taxpayers hard-earned taxes. The TARP funds were explicitly authorized to fund a "bailout" of financial institutions, NOT car companies!! The Prez did this deceitful business without Congressional authorization-the supine Congress doesn't have the nerve to say NO! Never will I buy a product of a company receiving this "bailout". Mike
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 7:26 PM by Galaxy Flyer
Your vehicles are junk, especially the Dodge Caliber. You don't deserve to stay in business.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 7:26 PM by jfm
This Thank You campaign is a stunning example of the degree to which Chrysler's management has no clue. Taxpayer money is being watsed allowing a private equity group to cut its losses before the inevitable sale of the company (not likely without taxpayer funding guarantees. The best thing that can happen now for the taxpayers and the US auto industry is a chapter 7 filing. Odd that although the taxpayer is forced to bail out an incompetent organization we do not get to learn exactly who is invested in Cerberus. Those investors (any SWFs in there?) are the only winners.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 7:26 PM by goChpt7Now
Chrysler you are now a great burden on the american people. YOU took our money against our overwhelming NO vote & consensus. Chrysler should have filed chapter 11 and started over like many of your buyers have had to do. Chrysler IS going down . Americans hard earned tax dollars for your bailour will be blown into thin air , just like they were printed from nothingness but thin air.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 7:26 PM by Kate
Understand your thanks intent, HOWEVER, you're further proving that you don't know how to read how to manage the public's perception of your position. DO NOT spend OUR money like this. And DON'T spend it to preserve where you ARE. Shutter what you must, and deftly (6 months) show me a digital prototypes of 1. an all electric, 2. a sportscar under 3000 lbs with a 2L biturbo with 275HP and torque, 3. An aerodynamic truck - here, you showed leadership a decade ago with the big truck look, that crap is OVER. 4,000 lb, aero design, hi/lo 2wd tranny for load versus road/mileage. 4. Urban delivery like VW jetta vans I see in South America. There is opportunity in this mess for those who execute deftly. Show us you've got something for crying out loud! Fire every designer, regulator, and exec that says you can't do the above, and let the creative engineers dying to do these things make them happen. You can do it! I want you to, after all, I'm now invested as a taxpayer. ADS
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 7:26 PM by ads
The money you got was given to you by our corrupt ruler over my strenuous objections. You should fire your PR firm for suggesting this multi-million-dollar thank you campaign would redound to your benefit. You should have gone through banruptcy, allowing you to break your ruinous union contracts and get competitive. Instead, Bush et al. decided to pour money down the rathole of your inevitable failure, and YOU decided to spend a bunch of it thanking us! How precious is that? You guys sicken me.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 7:26 PM by Jim McClarin
yo - Chrysler. You are not a public company, are you? I mean you are not traded on any public stock exchange, yes? So how come your parent company - Cerebus, I believe - doesn't believe in you enough to "invest" more in you such that you have to turn to us American taxpayers? Maybe they know something about you that we don't? Is that why they are not bailing you out instead of us?
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 7:26 PM by nonono
Not Welcome. I opposed the bailout and will boycott Chrysler until Cerberus pays it back. I also look forward to the day when Chrysler's crappy FWD cars no longer taking up shelf space in the automotive market. The Caliber, Compass, Sebring, and Avenger don't even achieve rental car levels of refinement. Mitsubishi should sue for what you guys did with the GS platform.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 7:26 PM by George B
You are NOT WELCOME! What an insult upon injury. Chrysler is morally bankrupt, proven by this ad thanking the very people they've stolen from. There is nothing that could ever tempt me to buy your product and it appears much of America feels the same.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 7:29 PM by Bea
Don't thank me..You put yourself under.Now WE the taxpayer has to bail you out! This is just wrong! I am paying to bail out a company that I will no longer purchace a rotten product from.I own a 96 Dodge Ram.It is junk.Maybe send me a new transmission as a thank you and i could almost accept it..although it will only last 60,000 miles just like the last 2 transmissions it has had. (The orignal tranny and the one in it now) I would buy another car if I could afford one.And when I am able to afford one it sure as heck wiil NOT be a Chrysler product.
Posted Jan 1, 2009, 7:30 PM by Not happy with Chrysler
Dear Chrysler: I don't like to pay for things twice, so since I've already paid to bail you out of your mess, I won't be buying any of your vehicles. Yours Truly, A great great grand nephew of Walter P Chrysler
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by rj
Don't thank me..You put yourself under.Now WE the taxpayer has to bail you out! This is just wrong! I am paying to bail out a company that I will no longer purchace a rotten product from.I own a 96 Dodge Ram.It is junk.Maybe send me a new transmission as a thank you and i could almost accept it..although it will only last 60,000 miles just like the last 2 transmissions it has had. (The orignal tranny and the one in it now) I would buy another car if I could afford one.And when I am able to afford one it sure as heck wiil NOT be a Chrysler product.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by Not happy with Chrysler
Mr Nardelli, this is the second time "to the well" for Chrysler so how many more times are you guys going to come crawling to the taxpayers for help? Why don't you get into your "corporate aircraft" and go ask the Germans at Daimler for your bailout?
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by sausages
I think its horrible you raided all of the pension funds for the honest people that worked for you in the past. Then ask for a handout of our own taxpayer money,I always felt you product was inferior compared to foreign makers. Well because the american started buying better autos and because we smarten up you punish us.All of maybe thousands who would have bought another auto well you made us madder.So forget the american people for caring anymore. Chrysler-Ford-GM the most hated car makers of the world. You earned that now known fact.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by chryslersucks
WHAT?! I don't think americas tax payers want to spend their tax money being thanked! Complete waste of money.
It is like the courtosey of holding the tax payers hair back....
I don't understand, chrysler makes nothing but horrible and unpopular cars. Ford and GM are great companies compared to chrysler.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by nickds7
The ad is in poor taste. That having been said, I hope that the US auto makers ALL stay in business because I am not ready to buy a foriegn brand, nor will I probably ever be. I survived what should have been a triple fatality, and so did the others, because I was driving an American built and branded Jeep Cherokee Sport, that did not crumble when impaled by a tractor trailer from the rear. Now, before all of you jump on this saying that it probably wasn't built here, what I mean is, American technology, American design, American safety, and most importantly, American steel. Our industries have all been adversly affected by the changes in international trade, and it's time to take OUR country back. If Chrysler is able to stay afloat, I will buy more of them. If not, I'll buy whatever is left, but you will not see me in a Toyota or Honda, or a Nissan or VW.......... Good luck, and I hope fewer Americans lose their jobs to the World.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by Jeep Guy
YOU ARE NOT WELCOME! It is amusing that you have recieved more hate comments than You're Welcomes. Whats even more funny, is how your company has lost business over this Bail-out. hahahahahaha ROT IN HELL CHRYSLER
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by Nightly Thought
I truly believe Americans should buy American products, but eah individual needs to responsible for which they do. And that includes Corporations as well as Small Buisinesses . I am very concerned with what is happening in the United States right now and for a Company to jump on the Currency Out Of Thin Air Band Wagon , then to spend it this way is very troubling indeed. All I can say is that each and every Corporate Manager in your Company needs to give back all the Monies earned in the past 10 years and pay this loan back yourself . I will not pay or contribute one Dollar or an Amero when it replaces our current Defunct Crap. Why don't you call Rockefellar for the funds.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by brder4ev
I truly believe Americans should buy American products, but eah individual needs to responsible for which they do. And that includes Corporations as well as Small Buisinesses . I am very concerned with what is happening in the United States right now and for a Company to jump on the Currency Out Of Thin Air Band Wagon , then to spend it this way is very troubling indeed. All I can say is that each and every Corporate Manager in your Company needs to give back all the Monies earned in the past 10 years and pay this loan back yourself . I will not pay or contribute one Dollar or an Amero when it replaces our current Defunct Crap. Why don't you call Rockefellar for the funds.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by brder4ev
No matter how you might try and sell this, your lack of financial responsibility coupled with our national assumption that we simply need to keep you around in the spirit of business-as-usual have sent us carreening toward full-blown Socialism. That the Chrysler corporation and the federal government have conspired together to spend my tax dollars in this way is totally reprehensible. You've received my tax money over my most strenuous objections. You will not receive a dime from me in consumer spending. Any way you people receive it, it's simply throwing good money after bad.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by schafkopf
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by Deeply concern
Surely your executive leadership doesn't honestly BELIEVE that your size and the magnitude of the consequences of their incompetence justify a bailout in a year when so many companies disappeared silently with no hope of government help. Of course they don't. They just knew that they could get it from those whose intellectual and moral bankruptcy exceed even theirs. Despicable and disturbing.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:34 AM by Dan Davis
Surely your executive leadership doesn't honestly BELIEVE that your size and the magnitude of the consequences of their incompetence justify a bailout in a year when so many companies disappeared silently with no hope of government help. Of course they don't. They just knew that they could get it from those whose intellectual and moral bankruptcy exceed even theirs. Despicable and disturbing.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by Dan Davis
I have to follow up with this comment. I don't personally know one single person who wanted to give the big 3 any money. It's a shame when people lose their jobs but this has been a long time coming. How can a company that sends junk out the door and then turns their back on the customer expect to stay in business? Why chrysler would spend so much money developing a new gas guzzler when energy prices are so volatile instead of on more efficient platforms is beyond me. Hybrids? They want to slap an electric motor and a battery pack on an existing vehicle and call it progress and can't figure out why they aren't selling anything. I suppose this is chryslers "lipstick on a pig" approach.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by Puffnstuff
Thanks for a bad transmission, A/C, power steering and all this before 40K miles.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by george G
You are NOT WELCOME! That is my money, stolen from me at the end of a gun that you are wasting on prolonging the inevitable. My not so bold prediction for 2009 - at this time next New Year's Day there will be no more Chrysler. I was considering buying a new Challenger, but will now purchase a Mustang instead. Enjoy bankruptsy chumps!
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by lumpy
What's even more scarier than buying a Chrysler product, is having Dan Quayle as Chairman Cerberus Global investments.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by Borger
I realize that the UAW parasites have destroyed your ability to produce quality products but a chapter 11 is what you need as an anti-biotic...Not taxpayer thefts that will never end so to satisfy the UAW tapeworms. I also realize that the UAW gave politicians millions of dollars to use political violence against the rest of us to steal our hard-earned money. I will never buy anything the UAW touched.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by Anna
First off, out of my 11 uncles and aunts, NOT ONE owns one of your cars. Or any of the big three. Maybe you should make more reliable and affordable to fix cars. Cram packed engines and hard to get at oil filters to make *force* you into taking it into a dealership is another downfall and hope you choke on our tax dallors. No one i know of, is happy about this bail out and are made at the fact our government went ahead with this after over 50% of the people didnt want to. Foreign cars will run you done, and so will your poor *on purpose* quality breakdown cars. May this bite you in the rear and whoever helped this go through. This WILL NEVER happen again. You knew this was coming.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by WontBuyFromU
You are not welcome! Shame on you, Mr. Nardelli! Shame on all the morally bankrupt greedy, overpaid deadbeats at Cerberus! I feel sorry for the employees at Chrysler, but the fact is they do not build products that the public wants to buy. It is certainly not the fault of most of these employees, that most of the public does not want to buy these products, but life is not fair. Chrysler should be put out of its misery and Chrysler employees will have to find other jobs, just like other hardworking Americans do. It isn't easy. But hey, life sucks. Just like Chrysler products.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by Cosmo
Why did the taxpayers have to bail you out when your parent company Cerebus is worth billions.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by spotics
Wow, putting that message on a blog is another Great Corporate Blunder! Which one of the Chrysler Senior Management team is saying "Hey, there's no such thing as bad publicity right?" Bet one is. Anyhow, I'm trying to work out if putting this message on an open blog is in the top ten corporate slip ups for 2008 or 2009. PS, I get the impression the Unions have won now so keep those high pay deals going lads and we'll see you t*ts up in, oh, around 2010.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by Robin Ellard
Good riddance Chrysler. You've haven't made a car people want to buy, period. Please roll over and die, only then will you stop your looting of the American public.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by chryslerisjunk
You're welcome. Looking forward to many more cars being built in America by American workers.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by Schtauffer
Invested? Are you kidding me??? To call this "investing" is to call a man raping a woman "making love"... are your advertising people really that stupid, insensitive, or plain clue/careless? You are NOT welcome.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by blonderengel
Try to imagine an armed robber, with YOUR wallet in his hands, THANKING you for "investing" in his future. That robber would be Chrysler. Not only will I not buy any Chrysler products, the other of the "big three" can rest assured my shadow will never darken their showroom doors, either. See ya' in bankruptcy court, bastards.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by mark edward marchiafava
Disgusting. Never going to buy a Chrysler again. Why didn't you go Chapter 11 prepack while the problem was (relatively speaking) smaller? Anyone with two neurons capable of being rubbed together knows you are going there anyway.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:37 AM by dougjp
You are not welcome, thieves. Your shitty, ugly cars will now sell even less, thanks to your ignorance and hubris. You better hope the government keeps printing money for you, because you aren't getting any of ours anytime soon.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 8:49 AM by Jake214234
How many years of your highest profits would it take to climb out of the fiscal hole you're in? Five? Ten? Without government money you are toast. Accept it. Shut down. Let someone else who has a clue come in and buy the assets cheap (i.e. what they are really worth), clear away all the old contracts, and start over.
The sad thing is, even with the government money you are only prolonging the inevitable. If you give it up and acknowledge reality today then the government only assumes certain pension liabilities and unemployment costs (also evil but that's a fight for another day). If you fight on consuming all of this nice, new printed money then you'll waste that and still fail, and the rest of us will still be stuck with the other costs to boot.
Yeah, thanks, Chrysler. (and Ford... and GM...)
By the way, did I mention how much I enjoy my Toyotas that almost never break as opposed to my American cars that lived in the shop?
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:54 AM by RPChurchill
I'm rolling over, but I've had to do that a lot lately.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:54 AM by Thomas Jefferson
Bailing out the inept banks was wrong. Bailing out the inept car manufacturers is wrong. It will only make the nation poorer while keeping the incompetent in place and in the lifestyle they have come to enjoy. Enjoy your stolen loot, guys. Be glad I have scruples which prevent me from procuring similar "investments" from you.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:54 AM by Jim O'Connor
No,no,no, Chrysler I'd like to thank YOU for all that you've done to show me just where your company is. I have a 2003 Dodge truck and your announcement ensures it will be the LAST Chrysler (or any Detroit company for that matter) vehicle I EVER buy.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:54 AM by nighttrain2008
Bankruptcy can't come fast enough for this rotten company. I would personally send ten dollars if it guaranted a brutal Chinese take-over. But sadly, cerberus luminaries like Dan Quayle and John Snow will get more time to plan their exit.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:54 AM by Nardelli's Private Jet Pilot
Can you tell me what the return on my so called "investment" will be? This bailout will allow Chrysler to continue on with business (or lack there of) as usual. Giving money to Chrysler is a waste of resources because of the long trackrecord of poor management and union stranglehold. Bankruptcy is the best option for a bankrupt organization (Chrysler) that should either start fresh with new management and no union or simply disappear from American business.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:54 AM by Patricks
Don't thank me. Thank the worthless thieves in Congress who stole my hard-earned money and gave it to you. I did NOT invest in Chrysler, as your patronising waste-of-an-ad suggests. BOYCOTT CHRYSLER, GM, and FORD!! But especially Chrysler.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:54 AM by Gilgamesh
To Mr. Nardelli and the UAW, GO POUND SAND! You all suck since it is your own fault (both management and the union) that have sunk Chrysler into the pile of excrement. I will not ever buy another car from you, or GM, or Ford.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:54 AM by USUCK!!!
You lost my business the FIRST time you got a bailout (Does anyone remember that? How could this government bail out a company TWICE??). And over the last 29 years you have continued to fail to inspire me with products that indicate an ability to compete and give consumers what they clearly want. Now some other columnist is trying to foment a new War Between the States, because Senators in southern states that have successful car makers located there voted against the Shrinking 3 bailout. This is complete nonsense. There should be NO bailouts for anyone - period. My favorite web poster for this reads: "You wouldn't buy our shitty cars. So we'll be taking your money anyway." I'm encouraging my daughter - now in college - to relocate to Canada or someplace else so she won't be saddled with the mountain of taxes necessary to settle this mountain of debt. Both Chrysler and the UAW needs to go broke.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:19 PM by tao54nyc
Thank heavens the government saw fit to give these jokers my childrens' money, so they can hope to have to option of ignoring Chrysler products someday, just like their daddy does. Otherwise, American auto manufacturing would disappear, as they tell me! That would be a real shock to our economy, just like when hard-working Americans stopped making floppy disks, Betamax players, flint-lock muskets and dirigibles.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:19 PM by cwallace
My wife and I just purchased a brand new Honda Odyssey. Theres no way we'd ever buy from the "big 3", ever again. If it comes down to Chrysler or walking.......we'll walk. I'll put my kids on a mule before I'll put them in a Chysler. Suck it, you parasites.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:20 PM by redhankyspanky
this comment by thomas dilorenzo of the mises institute says it all and echoes my feeling. thanks for putting it so well tom! Anyone who buys a car from Ford, GM or Chrysler from now on is a chump, a sucker, a fool, a loser, and a fascist. (A defining characteristic of European fascism was the privatization of profit and the socialization of losses, i.e., the "bailout" system the "Party of Lincoln" has forced on us). Give the middle finger to anyone you see driving a new "American" car if you value living in a free society at all. Better yet, show the one-finger salute to any Ford, GM, or Chrysler dealership as you drive by.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:20 PM by sunny
You are not welcome! I am opposed to corporate welfare. It is assounding to seeall the great captains of industry run to the government to get extorted tax payer dollars to keep their pathetic dream alive. If a company can't make it under present conditions it need to reorganize. Resorting to theft of public money is not the solution.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:20 PM by TexasTaxPayer
THIS IS WHY I BUY SUBARU, WHICH IS MADE IN INDIANA. I THINK A BETTER USE OF THE MONEY WOULD HAVE BEEN TO PROVIDE AN EQUIVALENT TAX INCENTIVE TO ANY CAR COMPANY, FOR EIGN OR DOMESTIC, WHO WILL INCREASE PRODUCTION IN THE U.S. THAT WAY, WE ONLY REWARD HEALTHY COMPANIES RATHER THAN CHRONICALLY SICK COMPANIES LIKE THE BIG 3. SO MUCH FOR CAPITALISM. IT'S REALLY JUST A POLITICAL FREE-FOR-ALL.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:20 PM by FOE
I didn't invest, my money was stolen by the thieves in Washington.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:20 PM by Rongstad
Thank you? Thank you for forcing every taxpayer in this country to buy a Chrysler whether they wanted one or not and we didn't even get the car. Just some sick newspaper ad and a parasite union. I now hope Chrysler, Ford, and GM go bankrupt and vanish into history. I've never owned anything but a Chrysler product. My first car was a 1964 Dodge Dart and I currently have a 2004 Dodge Ram and an 07 Magnum. Thanks to your forcibly taking even more of my money, my next vehicle will be a Toyota or Nissan. You're welcome!
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:21 PM by ram&a45
I didn't invest, my money was stolen by the thieves in Washington.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:21 PM by Rongstad
You're not welcome. Chrysler needed to die in 2008. But since politicians love giving money to their idiot buddies, it will stay on life support for a while longer. Bob, I now rarely shop at Home Depot because of what you did to that place. Lowe's gets 99% of my business. And because of your destruction of Chrysler, I'll never buy a Chrysler product. I feel bad for all the workers you've screwed over, but I feel worse for all the US taxpayers you've screwed over too. I'm good and I pay my debts and save money, but what's the point? Chrysler has shown that when you screw things up bad enough, Uncle Sam will be there to socialize a failing company. The most intelligent thing taxpayers can do is to continue to buy cars from companies that don't go to the US government buffet (any company besides Chrysler and GM). Chrysler is such a minor company that when it finally goes to Chapter 7, no one will really miss it. The sooner Chapter 7 happens, the better. You'll be fine though Bob, since you've got your golden parachutes from HD and Cerberus. God forbid you give any of that money to a laid-off employee that's in danger of losing their house, because I'm sure you need it to "get by". Oh yeah, Happy New Year! May your 2009 be filled with liquidation proceedings.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:21 PM by Chryslerblows
I think the add is an excellent idea. The American public needs to know the facts as they are shown. We should all try to purchase Chrysler, GM and Ford Products and support our own people. If I had my way..... we'd have a $1,000 tarrif on all foreign made products for a period of 4 years and then begin a great campaign of Buy America First! You others with criticism should take your turn standing in line for free food to feed my family as I did back in the 1980's. Get Real, Get Smart, Buy American.....!
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:29 PM by Dennis Rule
America had nothing to do with it! The majority of Americans were AGAINST the bailout of the Medium 3. You have no one to thank but your politically connected lobbyists!
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 12:29 PM by bjneiman
I think the add is an excellent idea. The American public needs to know the facts as they are shown. We should all try to purchase Chrysler, GM and Ford Products and support our own people. If I had my way..... we'd have a $1,000 tarrif on all foreign made products for a period of 4 years and then begin a great campaign of Buy America First! You others with criticism should take your turn standing in line for free food to feed my family as I did back in the 1980's. Get Real, Get Smart, Buy American.....!
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:26 PM by Dennis Rule
This is the second time in my life that the Feds have robbed me in order to pay Chrysler. Do you really suppose I'm interested in your "thanks," especially at the cost of a full-page newspaper ad? The only Chrysler product I've owned recently was a new, 1992 Jeep Wrangler that leaked water through the floorboards when it rained. I got rid of it before I would risk actually taking it off-road. I'm a family man these days and am very happy with my Honda Odyssey: I'm an old motorcyclist, and Honda's engineering departments have never let me down.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:26 PM by Daryl Davis
Wow not any positive comments? I didn't hear people moan this loudly about bailing out the banks that are the root of the whole problem. GM and Chrysler are victims of circumstance from a falling economy as much as bad management. If you think other car companies don't get support from their government your wrong. Most other world governments realize that a solid economy means keeping jobs in the country, not exporting them, and they provide support to their manufacturing industries to keep their people working. I agree the money could have been better spent but I am pretty sure that the purpose was to prevent people from feeling used and abused like the banks did to us all. At least they tried to put a positive foot forward, although not a well thought out step. But let's get real people if you want the economy to get better you had better start buying American products. I would have rather seen them go bankrupt, ditch the UAW contracts and start fresh but how many would have bought a car from a company in limbo? It would toll a death knell for untold numbers of jobs and extend the recession even longer. Keep thinking that buying foreign is great and the world economy is the best thing since sliced bread but remember that it can only go two ways. Bring the level of income and standard of living for the rest of the world up to ours, or take our standard of living down to their standards. Which one do you think is going to happen considering that America is a small amount of the worlds population. Besides the world economy is the American economy. Did anyone notice when Russia fell? Great Britain a few years back? Countries around the world have troubles but none affect the world like our economy does. We fell the world fell, Russia fell and nobody noticed. Save the world by saving America. We need to all start buying American if you want to get the economy going again. American products are a little more expensive but they are worth it. And don't give me that American stuff is low quality bull. That's a lame excuse for people to use who really are too selfish to care about anyone but themselves and just want to buy cheap garbage. Consumer reports has confirmed that. If you are totally convinced that foreign products are safe please drink some milk from China (Melamine anyone?) or eat beef from Europe (mad cow disease?).
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:26 PM by Does anyone have any sense?
America didn't "invest" in Chrysler. This politically connected company used cronies in Washington to shake down taxpayers. Plain and simple. If this were actually an investment, I would have received shares and been able to sell them, thus cutting my losses before such an inefficient, inept, and unproductive company failed again. Really, the thank you should go to the South and foreign car makers who put out far superior products with a lower cost and don't require political plunder to serve.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:26 PM by ryanh29
I think the add is an excellent idea. The American public needs to know the facts as they are shown. We should all try to purchase Chrysler, GM and Ford Products and support our own people. If I had my way..... we'd have a $1,000 tarrif on all foreign made products for a period of 4 years and then begin a great campaign of Buy America First! You others with criticism should take your turn standing in line for free food to feed my family as I did back in the 1980's. Get Real, Get Smart, Buy American.....!
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:26 PM by Dennis Rule
Are you kidding me? For once, Congress did what I wanted them to by giving you nothing. Your organization needs to fail, and it was not the American people who you need to thank. It is your political connections to the Bush adminstration. We have voted with our money by not purchasing your vehicles. Take a hint and exit the car business. Sell Jeep to someone who cares, then bow out. Don't waste any time thanking me ... I want my money back.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:26 PM by chamby
As a former 2d generation Chysler employee, former owner of Chrysler products (for over twenty years), and former stock-holder, I say to hell with Chrysler - one of the worst companies in America. Your products are low-quality trash that fail to change with the times and needs of the customers. Your dealerships are greedy cheats looking for ways to screw over previously loyal customers. Your after-sale dealership service is price-gouging piracy that cheats the customers. Your plants and offices are mismanaged to the point of waste and incompetence. Your senior management are blood-sucking leeches bilking the investors - and now the taxpayers - while laughing at the plight of the common man. Your bloated Unions are full of lazy, arrogant , over-paid and self-centered asses who think everyone owes them a high-wage living while they f-off at work. A sad end to a once proud company. Why can't you die respectably like every other self-respecting corporation that couldn't make a go in hard times - through bankruptcy. Damn you all for demanding another (yes, I remember Iaccoca - I was there!) bailout. I will never again buy a Chrysler product, invest in the corporation, or recommend that others do so. I own exclusively Honda products now, and am glad of it. Chrysler bankrupt and gone? I say, Good riddance to all of you.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:29 PM by Rock in DC
I didn't invest . I had my money stolen. I don't buy your piece of crap cars and certainly won't buy you piece of crap company.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:29 PM by bilejones
Thank YOU Chrysler for going behind my back and taking my money. Thank You Chrysler, for destroying other jobs somewhere else in America. Thank You! www.ObamaListenToPeterSchiff.com
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:29 PM by ObamaListenToPeterSchiff
I thought that add was a spoof... Nuff said
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:29 PM by Dizzie Diva
You have the audacity to "thank America"? You must be kidding. You and the UAW stole billions of dollars of OUR money through extorting your pawns in Congress; billions of dollars that will be taken from OUR paychecks and given to you and your poorly managed company. No thanks to you, I will now have to work harder to cover my promises and dreams to my family, while you and yours leach off of my back. I will NEVER buy a Chrysler product because of this, and do everything in my power to make sure that none of my friends and family do either. You are the worst of what this country has to offer, and you are stealing money from the taxpayers.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:29 PM by sdclarkson
Many of Chrysler's problems stem from the years of Mercedes butchering the company until little was left. All of the products besides the new Ram suffered from massive cost cutting. This put them in a bad situation from the start. There just hasn't been enough time for them to fix all of the damage done, because it takes time and money to fix or redesign products.
At any rate, you all seem ready to jump all over Chrysler for saying thank you, but have no problem with the banks being handed over $700 billion. It is America that should be thanking Chrysler, and GM and Ford for helping America though disasters, 911, and of course WWII, on top of all the people they employ millions of people, allowing those employees to earn a decent living. Yet we Americans crucify them for splitting $17 billion (or whatever the final number was) in loans. I for one am much happier seeing my money going to help companies that actually build something, to the last manufacturing industry this country has, than a bunch of paper pushing bankers who blow the money on subprime lending practices, are responsible for the financial meltdown, and don't even know where the money they were given has gone! But hey, keep wishing Detroit goes under while you buy your Japanese Camries. Just because it's built here doesn't make it American. If a company is based in Japan, or whatever other country, the profits go back there and benefit that company and that country. At least Japan protects its industries while we are happy to have it outsourced so we can buy cheap crap from Wal Mart at "low" prices.
If Detroit goes down then we as a country have nothing to show for ourselves except a bunch of bankers, lawyers, and Wal Mart and McDonalds workers. What a bright future that must be!
All I ask is that Chrysler continues to work its way back up, with designs that are once more class leading, with world class interiors, and new and advanced powertrains like the Phoenix V6 series.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:29 PM by Kimura
I agree with the analogies made upthread. Chrysler having the nerve to thank American taxpayers after we have been plundered is like a thief having the nerve to toss a “thank you” over his shoulder as he makes off with someone else’s money. By accepting federal funding Chrysler has all but assured the so-called bridge loan is a government give-away. One of many to come, no doubt. This is not 1979; this loan will not be repaid. People have a choice now and many of us will choose not to buy cars built by Chrysler because it asked and took our money. And for refusing to reward a failing company with their hard-earned money, American taxpayers will be made (again) to fund the failing company with their hard-earned money through taxation. After all, somebody has to pay for the UAW’s pension plans and health plans and golf courses. Somebody has to pay the union dues of congressional crooks. And so Chrysler will return to the trough like a pig, and though those villains in Congress will cry “Woo-pig-suey” as they toss our tax dollars away.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:29 PM by Andrea5
Invest!? Its hardly likely we will see any of this money again. Let alone with any appreciable interest. Luckily for us the Pigopolist Swine at Cerberus have overlooked this outstanding investment opportunity and allowed us, the taxpayer to get in on the ground floor. Fact is the government has “invested” more money into the Debt 3 then the damn companies net worth combined $50 billion vs $5 billion ! Curse our elected representatives for allowing these 3 stooges to become so large their imminent failure somehow has become unconscionable. Divestment of the 3, seppuku for their shameful management, and conscription of the UAW into the Peoples Liberation Army would do much to improve the state of the domestic auto industry.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:29 PM by Optimus Crime
Dear Chrysler, Which marketing genius decided to draw attention to Chrysler's theft from America? This ad is the perfect example of the idiocy that led to your current situation, and reinforces why a bailout shouldn't have been allowed. Andrew Seffrood, Minneapolis, MN
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:29 PM by Andrew T. S.
I'm with Dennis Rule. You are very welcome for the money. It isn't your fault that the economy melted down and people can't afford to buy cars. My In Laws are a Chrysler family and you build some nice stuff! Good luck to you in the future!
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:29 PM by 66stang
Invest!? Its hardly likely we will see any of this money again. Let alone with any appreciable interest. Luckily for us the Pigopolist Swine at Cerberus have overlooked this outstanding investment opportunity and allowed us, the taxpayer to get in on the ground floor. Fact is the government has “invested” more money into the Debt 3 then the damn companies net worth combined $50 billion vs $5 billion ! Curse our elected representatives for allowing these 3 stooges to become so large their imminent failure somehow has become unconscionable. Divestment of the 3, seppuku for their shameful management, and conscription of the UAW into the Peoples Liberation Army would do much to improve the state of the domestic auto industry.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:30 PM by Optimus Crime
Screw you Nardelli, You left Home Depot in ruins and you jumped with a 223 MILLION dollar golden parachute. I wouldn't buy a Chyrsler product again. Did you use any of the 223 million that you stole off the backs of HD workers to invest in Chrysler before you went begging? You remind me of Bill Zollars, CEO of YRCW, who ruined Kodak and now ruining another fine company. This ad is a stick up the American publics exit hole.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:30 PM by bucksnort
I must admit that I would be less cynical if there was some hope that Chrysler (and GM) could extract itself from the death grip of the UAW and CAFElegislation. But Nancy and Co. will not allow either.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:30 PM by Andrea5
Yes this Ad was wrong (as well as a waste of money)and so are most people that have commented on this ad. It was a loan and do you people forget that Lee Iacocca repayed the Us Gov back EARLY. Chrysler , Ford and Gm need help just like Harley- Davidson need when they were kicked when they were down... And Mr. Nardeii i got a great idea i would like to share with you for FREE only because i probably love this company more then you do. And want it to be sucessful like in 1997-1998. Please contact so i can share my Idea that may save Chrysler.
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:30 PM by cool_cuda
Love my rusted shock towers on my 99" Caravan. Thanks again
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:30 PM by bucksnort
This is like some burglar breaking into your house, then sending you a thank you note. Too Funny! Guess what -NEVER EVER going to buy a Chrysler or GM now!!!
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 5:30 PM by CamryRules
I am glad to buy your cars if I like them, I am glad to buy your stock if it seems to be the right price and pays a decent dividend, and I would lend you money if you pay me a decent rate of interest, but I don't like paying you money when I have no choice in the matter. Let's keep our association businesslike and voluntary!
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:27 PM by chuck ullery
Instead of doing the right thing, Chrysler has done precisely the wrong thing. The right thing would have been: 1. To declare Chapter 11 (reorganization) bankruptcy 2. To advocate the complete elimination of CAFE standards 3. To support a significant gasoline tax in place of CAFE Instead, Chrysler chose to play ball with Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Ron Gettelfinger, rather than taking the tough and honorable steps outlined above to fix itself. Chrysler has exchanged the American consumer as its master for Reid, Pelosi and Gettelfinger as its new masters. Now we'll get the politically correct cars that Reid, Pelosi and Gettelfinger want Chrysler to build, not the cars that consumers really want to buy. This will lead to even deeper financial problems for Chrysler and more bailout money down the drain, whether in direct payments to Chrysler or through the back door as $6000 customer tax credits to buy the politically correct products Chrysler will now produce at the behest of Reid, Pelosi and Gettelfinger. I will never buy another Chrysler product, even though I come from a family that has owned Chrysler products for years. I myself have owned a long line of Chrysler products up until recently when I bought a Hyundai. Chrysler's (and GM's) conduct is disgusting and shameful. They have exchanged the right and honorable course (Chapter 11) for the tin cup of a common street beggar, feeding at the government trough and taking their orders from Reid, Pelosi and Gettelfinger, not the American consumer. Wilbur Thomas Professor of Finance Department of Business Concordia University St. Paul MN 55104
Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:28 PM by WT3
I agree to a point that people should be outraged, but seriously, if your going to hate on Chrysler, there’s many other groups of people who have ACTUALLY bilked/stolen/miss used mass amounts of government money, get real and direct your outrage at the government and our current financial overlords.
this 4 billion dollar bridge loan is chump change compared to the blatant thief’s and liars in our system who have screwed over this country/tax payers/citizens for years on a scale many never thought it would never reach out of the common ideal that a person wouldn’t be as greedy to break the system for their own short term gain while they exist here on earth, most of these people who have put this country in the financial position its in are just fine and dandy, they made their truck loads of money while the feds print trillions of dollars that have no real value other then the guarantee you, me and every future living being in this country to be will saddle and work to pay it off until the end of time.
at least this SMALL amount of money is actually going to something useful that will benefit actual working people, this isn’t the only country that will be bailing out their auto makers or have, (IE Toyota will post its first operating loss in almost 70 years in the current Q) the hole that the auto (retail/manufacturing/any consumer industry you can think of) has fallen into from the current economic collapse is only going to get worse, the only thing GOVERMENT can do is try to spend its way out of it, that’s the responsible thing to do, this isn’t a situation that can correct itself and the downside to letting it correct itself, MIGHT be a total collapse of economic factors that could leave the country (and other countries, that we happen to be in debt with) in shambles for over a decade, wake up and deal with reality and address the hate where it belongs,
How are you all going to feel when states come to obama asking for trillions of “your” dollars? How about the retail industry, the service industry, they make up the majority of the workforce in our current economy, what if they need a “bailout” because the economy might not pick up in 2010?
So think about the whole picture before posting here about a 4 billion dollar bridge loan to an American auto maker who will use “your” (debt money that none of us have actually paid yet) money to at least sustain the middle class and thousands of families where it operates, which is much more noble then the hundreds of billions of dollars being printed for the organizations that knowing screwed you all over for a few individuals fast profit in the short term
At least Chrysler is saying thank you, thank you on a note that in all likelihood will be paid back, (even if they do get more money in the future, but who knows as it seems Chryslers owner wants to sell the company and be rid of it) unlike JPMorgan basically telling anyone asking for information on what they’re doing with billions of our dollars to get stuffed, though im sure if the situation worsens, they’ll be the first in the line asking for more money and will get it no questions OR oversight asked.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 8:44 AM by starmud
PS: How much of our money did you spend to run this ad? How out of touch can you possibly be?
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 8:44 AM by Angela Thornton
thanks for nothing... you exemplify what has gone terribly wrong with america. shame on you and your arrogance. the vast majority of american people said no to the bailouts but since we apparently no longer live in america at least not the country america once stood for you have gotten your way. you do not deserve the respect much less the welcome of the citizens who you have taken advantage of. our corrupt government sucks and so do you.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 8:44 AM by gibson
We will be waiting on you and the rest of your crew to bail on the American workers to outsource the last major manufacturing industry to the 3rd world slaves just like the rest of the American Corporations have done. I'm sure it's already in the works and this little check from us will make that transition a little easier for you. You all make sick. You couldn't give a rats ass about the workers.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 8:44 AM by NAFTA = Loss of sovereignty
Thieves, for you I only have one word... T O Y O T A
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 8:44 AM by Robed
I didn't have a choice in the matter of this "investment" but I do have a choice in what vehicles I purchase. I can assure you Mr. Nardelli, Chrysler will never see me at one of their delerships again.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 9:03 AM by Zedd
No one here gets it. This thank-you ad is just a subsidy to the NYT and other dinosaur media outlets who constanly shilled for this theft of taxpayer dollars to prop up these incompetent Chrysler executives and the union thugs. This was a thank-you for WSJ and USAToday for carrying water for these corporate goons.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 9:03 AM by rd001
This is the second time in my adult life that my money has been used to bail out Chrysler. That speaks volumes about Chrysler's ability or even desire to operate a successful business. For fear of a stroke, I don't even want to know how much of that money will be spent on executive bonuses and over-priced union labor. I have purchased my last American vehicle.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 9:42 AM by John in Texas
I'm sorry but I will not refer to you by name because I have no respect for you or your company. You are arrogant and cocky enough to put up a website thanking Americans for investing in your company? If American citizens wanted to invest in your company they would buy your crappy products! Believe me, if we had a say where OUR money went it would not be to you. I am a proud American and I will never buy an "American" made car. Most of the parts on your vehicles aren't even made in America and your management is stupid enough to bargain an agreement paying people with little to no skills 100k a year to put your foreign made parts together. I will leave you with a quote I cannot take credit for and do not know who to give credit to but "A lack of planning and preparation on your part does not make it an emergency on my part". You're not welcome.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 9:42 AM by Mrand55
First, although we live in a representative government, I want to say that I do not feel represented. I did not want Chrysler or GM getting one penny from me. Normal companies, at least in a normal free-market economy, fail from bad management; Chrysler and GM used the "too big to fail" moniker to defy even that.
Second, I have absolutely no hope that anything is going to change for the better at either Chrysler or GM. The exact same people who got the companies into the current debacle are still calling the shots. Normally, when a company has incompetent management in a normal capitalist economy, the management is laid off -- oh, but not here. Chrysler and GM defy those rules yet again.
Third, Chrysler, GM, and even Ford continually state that they are in the current financial crisis because of the economic downturn. If this is true, then why are most foreign automakers -- particularly those headquartered in Japan -- weathering the storm? Admittedly, Toyota has seen a decline in sales, but I highly doubt they beg governments for money anytime soon. And, much unlike "The Big Three," I have full confidence that Toyota -- at this very second -- is taking the steps necessary to ensure its long-term survival, whatever those steps may be. Why do I have faith in Toyota to do that but not "The Big Three"? Toyota has shown both a historical and recent ability and willingness to do so; "The Big Three" appear to be too incompetent and out-of-touch to complete any productive steps towards competitiveness and sustainability.
Fourth, take control of your company. You are letting a chaotic, uneducated union run the show. I'm part of a union in an entirely different industry: IT. However, the organization at which I work still runs things, and the union merely exists to ensure things are being done as the organization promised; the union does NOT force promises to be made by the organization. Accordingly, the union is simply setup to ensure contracts are fulfilled; they don't mangle with the contents of the contracts themselves. Honestly, I have full confidence that my union would go so far as to cease to exist if it meant the organization could stay afloat. The UAW, on the other hand, doesn't even understand that its money comes from the company that it works so hard to pull apart.
Finally, understand that there are few people connected to Chrysler and GM who are not partially responsible for the current crisis. Yes, that means that management is mostly incompetent (by not cutting down on costs, hiring competent designers and engineers, reducing the amount of brands, etc.), runs the companies like governmental bureaucracies ("oh, this isn't MY company and this is not MY money being wasted, so who really cares?"), and is highly overpaid -- either through direct compensation, bonuses, or other deferred benefits.
The designers and engineers are also incompetent; Chrysler and GM do not make appealing cars, either on the outside or under the hood. There is not one car from "The Big Three" that I would take over a Toyota Prius. Chrysler, GM, and Ford all make undesirable cars with mileage that often does not compare with those of Toyota, all for a higher price.
And of course, the normal workers are to blame. They are largely overpaid and have too many expensive benefits -- particularly in comparison to the rest of the United States. In addition, they, or the UAW on their behalf, continually ask for more on top of their already over-the-top compensation packages. I am sick of hearing about the "concessions" they have had to make. So what? You GAW workers are still not in-line with the rest of us, so get over it. Many of you folks are not even educated, so if you lived where I do, you'd be cleaning toilets for $8.00 an hour and APPRECIATING it.
But really, all these problems still stem from management. If the UAW's wages and benefits are so high, why did you sign contracts with them? You didn't have to. Scared that they were going to strike? Let them strike, and move your plants to states where new workers will appreciate a third of the current hourly wages with half the benefits. Nothing forces you to manufacture in Michigan.
So all in all, everyone at these companies is to blame, but ultimately, it is the management's responsibility to ensure everything is kept within realistic expectations. With the current incompetency at "The Big Three," there is little chance of this truly happening, and the loan money from the American people is sure to be squandered.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 9:42 AM by Jason Freeman
Seriously? This ad is yet more proof that Chryster needs to clean out its management and get leaders who actually have a clue what the American public wants. You stole tax payer money. You want socialism when it benefits you, but you want capitalism and freedom from every regulation at all other times. You know how you had a PR problem before the bailout and before this ad? Well, stealing money from the tax payer made it a million times worse. I will never, ever, ever buy a car from the "big 3." (Well, maybe if they pay back every cent they took from the tax payers.) Taking this money will cost you so much more than pulling yourself up by your bootstraps would have! Also, when will you get a clue about making and selling cars in America? My 1987 Honda Accord GETS BETTER GAS MILEAGE THAN MOST OF YOUR CARS TODAY!!! How is it possible that a 20-year old car is getting over 30 miles per gallon and you still can't figure out how to do this and fight any regulation to force it to happen?? And then your industry advertises needless advances (I believe this week was an announcement about self-parking cars) rather than just making cars of the future in terms of gas mileage and alternative fuels. I can't believe the amount of money you all waste...this ad, paying incompetent management, private planes and every other form of self-entitled corporate excess, lobbying against regulations that would have actually led to Americans liking your company more and liking your cars more, etc. The list never ends. You are a miserable company.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 9:42 AM by MimiG
Christler: You're really thanking the labor unions, right? Especially the UAW, and of course the mob/organized crime which supports it? How dare you and UAW president Gettlefinger bypass the U.S. Congress - and the U.S. Constitution - and get your bailout money from the Federal Reserve and expect us tax payers to put up with your shenanigans. All this goes to show how corrupt we've become as a nation, and it's largely because labor unions and organized crime have ignored and spat upon the Constitution and allowed the Federal Reserve to control us. Dr. William Campbell Douglass has it right when he says we desperately need to get honorable representatives back in Washington who will uphold the true law of the land: http://www.thatsgoodmedicine.com/17-political-health-and-healing-installment-2/
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 1:58 PM by Patriot1
i have owned at least 7 chrysler products in my lifetime. currently i own 3. let me say now, that i will NEVER own another chrysler as long as i live. i will either purchase Ford or Foreign. do you realize sirs, that the United States taxpayers have bailed you and your company out twice in the past 30 to 35 years. when are you and your executives going to figure out how to run a profitable company without getting government hand outs every time you screw up?
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 1:58 PM by rick
This is just more evidence that Chrysler et al just don't "get it". I was a died-in-the-wool Mopar guy, until my last two new vehicles. I made the incredibly bad decision to purchase a new Plymouth Voyager several years ago, and after the fourth replacement of the transmission (two at my cost), and the second replacement of the fuel pump, and the second replacement of the air-conditioning condenser, I vowed to never purchase another Chrysler product after the spectacularly bad support I recieved from your dealer and your company. Your actions in the last several months have only reinforced my opinion that Chrysler cannot effect enough substantial changes to correct all that's wrong. Maybe you should take a hard look at your PR firm; this "Thank-you" is one of the worst moves Chrysler has made in the past several months.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 1:58 PM by David Montgomery
Dear Mr Nardelli: America bailed you out. Do you think you could now send some of this relief to your current customers. Did it ever occur to you that we might also be in need of some assistance. Im behind on my payments by one month yet the calls from your organization come at an alarming rate. After all the grace America has shown you, could you not extend some of that courtesy to your customers and call off the hounds? How about calling all your current customers to offer them a bit of debt relief. That would show that some of the money you were given is being spent somewhat wisely, as we all are very skeptical as to what miraculous innovations you and your company are going to create in order to save your company in the long run. CHARITY STARTS AT HOME!!!!! STOP THE HARASSING CALLS!!!!!
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 1:58 PM by angry300financer
Summary: Labor unions are anti-competitive because they lock in wages. Labor unions are able to do this because they are run largely by organized crime. UAW is a labor union and refusued to make auto union workers' wages 'competitive'. UAW president Gettlefinger stated publically on TV: "If we don't get our bailout money through Congressional approval, we'll get it through the Federal Reserve." The protections to U.S. citizens afforded by the U.S. Constitution are being hijacked: The Federal Reserve granted UAW the money, which is to be paid through taxation of U.S. citizens. This equals taxation without representation. Of course we Americans are angry.
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 1:58 PM by Patriot1
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 1:58 PM by Chuck
Posted Jan 3, 2009, 1:59 PM by Chuck
Oh no, Chrysler. Don't thank me. I want to thank YOU! By raiding an EMPTY US Treasury, you have helped to insure that the government is going to ruin the dollar by printing a river of new ones to loan to YOU. When the inevitable raging inflation hits, people on fixed incomes - like my parents - are going to be ruined, and the next generation will live in poverty. But at least Chrysler's overpaid, incompetent executives and overpaid, lazy workers will be okay. So thank YOU Chrysler for taking care of number one and screwing my parents. my children, and America in general. I will ride a donkey to work before I buy a car from you or GM.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by acala
You have some nerve Chrysler. I'm writing my congressional representative. Bailing out companies that make poor products completely flies in the face of what makes America great. Helping temporarily prop up terrible businesses with poor management is not capitalism. Bad companies need to go away. America needs to invest in business that we CAN succeed in. It's not that "we lost" to overseas companies... most of them operate here in the U.S. It's that we're trying to prop up dinosaurs that should have become extinct! Like Chrysler.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by Dan Formen
Chrysler, you are no better than the common criminal. Your actions are no different than someone breaking into my home and stealing valuables. The fact that the executive branch was your coconspirator in this crime is no excuse and in fact makes matters worse. You should go bankrupt, and the government officials who aided and abetted your crimes should be convicted of treason. http://www.juntosociety.com/patriotism/inytg.html
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by datavortex
Nardelli screwed up Home Depot. Now his incompetence is at the helm of Chrysler. Is he putting any of his 222 million golden parachute from HD on the line at Chrysler? I just bought an Xterra, made in the USA. Sorry Jeep
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by bucksnort
The auto bailouts are an embarrassment to the United States, just as the bank bailouts were. Please do not thank me for something I did not approve of. I asked my represenatives to deny both the bank and auto bailouts and it is clear Congress does not listen to the American public(s). I won't be buying your vehicles and will make a point not to rent them in the future as well.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by Darren Purcell
You know, I send thank-yous to people who GIVE me things. You got the thugs in Washington to steal our money from us. You're the first mugger I've ever had with the hutzpah to send a thank you card. You're not welcome, and I'll never by from the big 3 again. I tend not to become a customer of those who steal from me.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by tremendoustie
Before you ever received a single dollar from another American, I would like to have seen those representing this company living in apartments paying rent month to month. Everything you've ever had should have been invested before our money was used. To think that families behind this company are set for generations at our expense is apalling, un-American, and pathetic. As for everyone else employed by this company, as everyone else stated about, all I have to say is "thats life." No one from Los Angeles to New Yowk is going to lose sleep when I can't find a job. I'm not even going to comment on the poor qualiy of the products of this company- on principle alone this should never have happened.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by baha
If investment is deserving of your company why did no one accept? Why go the government for handouts? Don't pretend it's a "loan" either. It's free money from the back of hard working taxpayers who can't afford their own bills. Facism www.libertygrotto.com
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by libertyJ
THANK YOU????? For what? I didn't give you the money. It was taken against my will. We have bought GM cars every three years, for years. Need a new one next fall. Won't be GM, guess we'll have three fords sitting in the drive way. I gottta go check out cars.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by bigdog82644
You owe me a car.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by Suttono
I no longer find disbelief in how friggin' stupid this country is as a whole. Whatever happened to us? We are being told what to think and act and we do in robot-like agreement like a bunch of TV educated robots!
The straw man of the auto bailout was put out there to take Americas minds off of the almost TRILLION dollars GIVEN to failed bankers with NO oversight and not even a glimmer of payback, yet, the country is up-in-arms, whining and crying over a few lousy billion dollars in loans to people who EMPLOY average Americans at good paying jobs PRODUCING products!! We're idiots I tell you!
Those redneck Senators and Congressman who started this whine-fest somehow failed to mention how much money THEIR states, counties and cities gave in bailouts to foreign plants for building there, didn't they? That's not just tax breaks but free infrastructure of all sorts thrown into the deal. Maybe thses freebe figures should be tallied up and thrown right back in those Republicans faces!
Regarding that other straw man, union pay. Never before has this country tried it's hardest to bring DOWN the wages of average Americans instead of trying to LIFT the wages and lifestyles of other fellow Americans. Describe 'class envy' to me again please!
Meanwhile, many are busy making excuse after excuse condoning the exhorbitant pay CEO's make... even when the company the CEO works for is heading downhill.
This country has to do some serious soul-searching. We're being lead to our downfall by GovCo and their long-time desire for a 'new world order'!
Think people... THINK!
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by Jack C.
The feeble-minded voters try to vote themselves other people's money only to get upset when someone else gets the political terrorists in DC to steals theirs. The UAW parasites will have to beg 20-somethings for burger flipping work and all will be right in the universe. Try Chapter 11 next time !!!
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by AllenJ
Maybe one day Americans will wake up and realize they are really stupid to even consider paying taxes...This should do it.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:58 PM by Peter Reed
Instead of thanking me, could you please explain why it's important for American taxpayers to bail out a private equity firm? You don't need ads. You don't need thank yous. You need to not make lousy cars. There...there's your bailout. And I'm not even an MBA. I'll also never be a Chrysler customer.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:59 PM by lee gibson
Parasites!!! Buying political mafia scumbags to steal from all of us...You and the filthy little bully-retard UAW can starve!
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:59 PM by SamM
what a bunch of bird brain douche bags. and its amazing that it took this for america to realize that chrysler was not a company that should be in business. and when they go out of business the world will be left with millions of cars that break down on a daily basis and have no replacement parts for. i bet the management sleeps at night as well!
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 12:59 PM by Turbo_D
Now my family has to go without more of our income because of tax-taking cockroaches like you...Your political terrorists steal 50% of my income and you think nothing of begging them to steal more for your thieving maggots in Dirtroit...No! Thank YOU!
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 1:00 PM by AndreaD
You are definitely NOT welcome! If I wanted to invest in Chrysler I would buy its stock. I don't appreciate the government stealing my money to bail out your company and your greedy employees. I hope you go out of business this year, along with any other companies that accept my money to bail them out. I will just keep driving my Japanese cars (built in this country by companies that know how to do business).
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 1:00 PM by POd
I have owned now a 98, 02, 04 and now two 07's (since one was crashed into by a drunk) Dodge Durangos. They are fantastic vehicles, but unfortunately, they'll be my last as they have been discontinued. While I really couldn't care any less about the adds( which frankly were kind of silly to be honest, but I have much greater concerns in my life to be worried about a stupid add) I am dissapointed in the killing of the Durango. Why not make the body a bit bigger and put it on the new Ram chassis? It would make a great full sized SUV. I hope that you find a replacement for the Durango, and fast, as ours now has 135,880 miles on it. We will need a new one within a year, and right now our only real choice for hauling our boat will be the Tahoe. Please don't make me buy a General Motors vehicle.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 1:01 PM by happytodrivedodge
Hey, angry300financer; Perhaps you should not have purchased something which you cannot afford.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 1:01 PM by happytodrivedodge
Instead of having the terrorists in DC steal from us, why don't you get money the honorable way like running illegal drugs...Delorean had more honor in his little finger than you all.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:32 PM by Archie
The murderers and thieves in DC are murdering all of us with their laws and taxes and the retarded TV-watching voters vote for more taxes and laws. Good for you to get the stupid people's money...Well Done!
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:32 PM by Tammy Wilson
Try making products consumers want. You won't need a bailout if you do that. Try it some time NO bailouts for any company.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:32 PM by mnorml
My late father fought in WWII against the Japanese, and my mother in an assembly plant building vehicles for rhe war effort. If it were ever to happen again, I would not fire a shot in the defense of you so called pro-American foreign vehicle lovers. Too bad that so many died to defend your right to hate on US companies, you all should be typing now in Japanese or German, that is, if you were born at all. Where is all the hate for AIG and the other banks that got BAILOUTS and not repayable LOANS? That's right, they are offering no thanks in the media or blogs on the internet? They are producing VAPOR, just like the vapor between all your collective ears. The Japanese and Korean vehicle manufacturers are supported and protected by their governments, and their countries' citizens are SMART enough to keep their mouths shut about it. They KNOW what butters their economic bread.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:33 PM by Damian
Wow.. What a bunch of narrow minded idiots. Citi gets 35 BILLION under the table 'over the weekend' and then sponsors the Rose Bowl and no one has anything to say... Chrysler gets A FRACTION of that, saves millions of american jobs and has TO PAY EVERY PENNY BACK (Remember, these are loans. Not the FREE money that Wall Street got) then launches a website and campaign out of goodwill, and everyone starts whining. Wake up america! Stops believing everything you read in the media. A media that is hellbent on finishing the Detroit companies and putting millions of americans out of work. (That should've been obvious to everyone when PRIVATE JETS apparently became more important than peoples lives) If anything, we should be rallying behind our LAST major manufacturing base and the middle class it created instead of ushering in one more step in the eventual fall of our empire.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:33 PM by jmleathe
Oh, and BTW... For those of you that have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to this industry (READ: the majority on this blog) It was Daimler-Benz that destroyed Chrysler by depleting their funds and putting out inept product at a very slow rate. Daimler got too big too fast and the current situation for Chrysler was the fallout. I hope you remember that while you're worshipping your beloved foreign brands.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:33 PM by jmleathe
I will never look at someone who drives a Chrysler the same way. Those wheels were paid for by the widows, the elderly in retirement homes on fixed incomes that are being vaporized by inflationary spending like this and so many other unconstitutional "bailout" schemes. Inflation tax is the most unfair form of tax. It hits the poor the hardest, destroys the purchasing power of the US dollar, and debases our economy. If I recall correctly, Chrysler execs couldn't even promise that they wouldn't just turn around and spend any money they siphon out of the US treasury on foreign made parts! If this happens again, I hope more execs will do the honorable thing and just declare bankruptcy to make room for someone who can do the job better. Lead, follow, or get out of the way. Don't drag the rest of us down.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:33 PM by RDP
You are welcome Mr. Nardelli, I mean the private owners of Cerberus, who were brilliant to ask for and got tax payer money to bailout Cerberus, a privately held company, which refused to dump more money into a failing company, and who were too scared of the UAW. Chrysler's bailout: first time shame on you...second time, shame on us...third time (i.e. March 2009), we are simply idiots. Cerberus needs to cough up matching monies next time around in March and show us that they actually spent even a dollar on turning Chrysler around versus holding out for a buyer. But, I'll be generous and ask Cerberus to only give me 8% directly to me for my tax money since they received over 50% in the form of the bailout on what they paid for Chrysler to begin with. Please send check to me at... I also like the fact that Cerberus got more bailout money through their 51% stake in GMAC, which received $6billion taxpayer money. p.s. Mr. Nardelli, please post a thank you to all the individual private equity partners of Cerberus, too, since they facilitated the taxpayer bailout by refusing to put more money into a failed business model. I would like to know their names, because I want to thank them, too. Well, rather, because I want to know how I can get a piece of Cerebrus profits.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:33 PM by laffingmyselfsilly
Just a bunch of entitlement-minded UAW parasites who think they own my income...Yeah...Thanks.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:42 PM by Linda M.
My family now goes with less because you got the political parasites in DC to steal from me...Just to keep stupid goons like Gettlefinger in Viagra.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:42 PM by Janet Daily
Maybe it is time to send all the taxtaking parasite bacteria to Cuba...Gettlefinger first.
Posted Jan 4, 2009, 9:42 PM by April
We need to teach these lobbyists a lesson. It's time to boycott the bailouts. Let teh Chrysler Boycott begin. As consumers, we have the ultimate power. If Chrysler cannot be profitable, they MUST return the bailout money. Let's make it happon.
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 9:25 AM by BoycottTheBailouts
Chrysler vehicles suck and I am sure they will suck harder now that you can just steal money from the taxpayers. You should file for CH 11 and split the proceeds amongst the American taxpayers. Your workers can go suck an egg.
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 9:25 AM by izoneguy
Thank You for stealing our money just to keep those idiot UAW apes off the streets. Detroit is a for retarded parasites and so are their so-called cars.
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 9:25 AM by Sally Dawson
It wasn't the banks that were bailed out, it was the deadbeat (sub-prime) borrowers who never had any thought of paying back their loans...Entitlement-minded maggots...Sound familiar to you?
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 9:25 AM by Wendy Evanden
Hi Chrysler,since you stole the money from us(taxpayers) from the backdoor. I will have to remind you i will not buy from crooks!!! I will never by another product from your company and when you go under i expect every dime back that you stole from the US TAXPAYER!!!!! may your company go bankrupt asap so we can save our taxpayer money from greedy mismanaged companies like yourself!!
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 9:25 AM by speciallyblend
lmleather, umm we are pissed at citi to ,we do not want any company that cannot survive on its own to get bailout. restructure the comapny? that is what bankruptcy is for, throwing money down a hole and to keep doing it ,is insane. these bailouts will not save your beloved job or company. it will only fatten the ceos. everyone posting here is also againt the other bailouts to,but citi was smart enough not to allow comments:) i bet the comment section will be deactivated soon here,since the last thing this company wants is honesty;) the fact is all the bailouts are pathetic and will eventually be useless money thrown to useless companies that cannot operate effectively. bankruptcy is the option that will get rid of pathetic management as well as some employees!! the only one to blame are the companies themselves!!!
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 9:58 AM by speciallyblend
Help me understand this: Your borrow money, you pay it back with interest, and we therefore make a profit. Is that what you're claiming? Well, that doesn't make sense, because you're going to write the interest expense off your taxes! We're not stupid, just apathetic. PS - I bought my first foreign car this weekend. It is a Subaru Forester. I always wanted one, but never could get past the guilt of not buying American. THANK YOU for helping me with that.
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 10:53 AM by Andrea123456
Gee I don't know what to say. I guess you are very welcome. I have a big screen TV if you want that too. Or maybe some food from my fridge, are you hungry? Don't worry about me I'll be fine, stop by anytime and rob me silly. I'm just happy that my mom who is barely scraping by after a medical problem and my newly wed and very poor brother, and all the rest of us peasants in the US could serve as some use to you. Tell the dicators in D.C. hello for me the next time you are extorting cash. Thanks!
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 10:53 AM by Liberty4All
Don't thank me, thank all those looters that voted for your bailout. It saddens me to see you hurting, but when you've (the car companys) hurt the American people time and time again, I just don't see that we owe you anything. Thanks for ripping up our streetcar tracks in the 50's, thanks for fighting against installing seatbelts and safty glass, thanks for suing the state of California cause they value breathing clean air. Get lost scum.
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 12:18 PM by prrandell
hey chrysler, Are you serious? why are you thankingme for stealing my money? ive been on a permanent layoff for 8 straight weeks and will never get my job back because of corporate and government greed that companies like yours participate in. if you really want to thank me, how about forgiving the loan on that jeep i bought 2 years ago with MY MONEY that you took??? simple , but yet you wont do it. no instead you spen the money on BS adds like this thanking us for stealing our money. do you realize how many families this money could have helped? And one more thing our media doesnt seem to mention,...how are you getting this money claiming hard times , when over seas you have opened a number of BRAND NEW PLANTS?? OVER SEAS!! So you take the US peoples money and then use most of it over seas where we will never benifit from it, not even in 1 job! I have always supported the american car markets, but i promise you that i will not ever again from this day forward. i like my jeep, but i promise you it will be my last. i wont even buy used american cars anymore. lets see, im now laid off, ...how about sharing some of that bailout? NO? thats what i thought. Besides Im not a theif, so i wouldnt take it anyway. Rot in Hell Chrysler. I hope you tank. cheers!
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 12:26 PM by flair1111
Fire your multi-million dollar CEO's, make DECENT (at least) cars, pay your employees (not fire them) and maybe WE will have something to thank you for.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:01 AM by Pizdov
Don't thank me, I didn't vote for your corporate welfare, err I mean "bailout". But don't think that I don't appreciate you spending hundreds of thousands of your bailout dollars on useless newspaper ads when you claim to be on the verge of bankruptcy. Your problem is not the UAW. It is not your Japanese competitors. The problem is that for years, the America auto industry made GARBAGE, and tried to force that garbage down our throats. Now you've shipped American jobs to overseas factories and you expect us to support you? Foreign car companies are building factories here in the US and are employing Americans. That more than you are doing.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:01 AM by Monkeypox
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:01 AM by delafontaine27
To take this money from the taxpayers is horrific. If you need this money now you will clearly need more later, taxpayers are broke, the equity in our homes is gone, credit is tightening, jobs are being lost at companies that actually turn a profit and do not get bailouts. This is going to cause inflation because the government has no money, it is 10 trillion in debt. Ultimately the Federal Reserve (which is not federal and has no reserves) caused this problem and created the boom that fueled all this malinvestment through low interest rates and expansion of the money supply (inflation). Now they are just going to run the printing presses at full blast and destroy our currency. You cannot re-inflate a bubble. The taxpayer is doomed. Our entire economy is a fraud, a giant house of cards made of debt. Our money is backed by nothing with a guarantee from a government which is continuously growing, making more laws, and sinking further and further into debt with no hope of turning it around. Have fun with my money Chrysler, I'll be using what little I have left to prepare for the coming collapse.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:03 AM by silentboom
In case you missed the point of the House and the Senate voting down your bailout requests, it was to DENY the automakers bailout funds. Nice try though, thanking the people you just robbed and paying for the ad with the stolen money.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:03 AM by MarineForLiberty
Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} What is wrong with you Chrysler? Are you placing these ads to rub it in our faces that even though this got a "NO" vote in the proper channels, our improper President decided to give you OUR money? My gift to you is this: I will never spend a dime on your company voluntarily...I will make sure that no one in my family does the same. Though I am just one man, I have a voice...I will use it to continually spread the word to those that might not be aware of how serious this issue is…and they will know the truth about what you have done here. This money you have stolen from the American public…will do you NO good. Bottom line...if you had a product worth buying, you'd have no trouble. However, the fact is...you don't. This was one of the most UN-American moves that an American company could do...You should be ashamed of yourselves. You won’t succeed and someday you will answer for this crime against us….not a threat, its just what happens…thieves get caught.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:03 AM by Chris Pelton
This is the first time I've been "thanked" for being ripped off. I guess I should say thank you for thanking me for stealing from me.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:03 AM by mercyngrace
PLEASE STOP WASTING OUR MONEY ON THESE STUPID ADS!!! MAYBE YOU SHOULD BAIL US OUT BY GIVING US ONE OF THOSE CRAPPY CARS YOU MAKE.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:03 AM by kane
Trust me, IF the American people actually had a choice, you would not be thanking us right now. Financial Institutions: "Give us money so we can lend it to you." Big Auto: "Give us money so we can make cars and sell them to you."
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:03 AM by briantology
It seems strange that there are people like the UAW that still exist...Why don't they start there own car company and compete? Why do they suck the life out of other people's property/companies? Send them to North Korea where they belong.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:03 AM by Ben Cower
I will never spend a dime on any car company that plunders my money and then spends it to send me a thank you card. Not one dime for a Chrysler until the plunder is returned, with interest, and with a sincer apology to the American people. Corrupt, criminal swine. You should be ashamed.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:03 AM by Denryu
You are all criminals! I have had numerous Chrysler vehicle through the years and I can honestly say: You will never get another dime from me. Well, not another legitimate dime, your cowardly theft of course withstanding. I hope your company goes bankrupt very soon so that a legitimate company that is not sucking the lifeblood from the american people can fill your place and earn our business through free-market forces rather than socialized, government sanctioned theft. Shame on ALL of you, Chrysler corp and UAW. Feel free to leave our country anytime and the UAW thug management SLIME can crawl back under the nearest rock from whence they came AND STAY THERE!!!!!
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 1:25 PM by Luken
Proper/modern V6 Engines...Proper/modern Transmissions...Proper/modern Interior Materials...Try these things so people will want your products and you won't feel compelled to steal from us again. I know these things and I am just a woman !!!
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 4:12 PM by Sandra
People who use political terrorism from Washington DC to steal from me will never have my business. The tax-takers need to be eliminated so that honorable humans can live well.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 4:12 PM by Jeff S.
What a big joke almost as bad as bailing out cartel banks.Take those bought and hidden designs off the shelf and start making 100 mile a gallon vehicles,then you wouldnt need to steal from people for your bad business decisions.No one bails out the American citizens.Shame on this govt for selling out its citizens to illegal banks.Sick of the bs,these crooks are doing to this country.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:41 PM by Taxmemore
Ever hear of free adds ?No wonder your broke.Your lack of good investment skill stink.Use our money to place adds,Is this a joke,why not just send murdoch a million dollar check and place an add on tv.Idiots.
Posted Jan 6, 2009, 9:41 PM by Taxmemore
You are very welcome and anytime you need to put the government's gun to my head, just feel free to do so! Why don't you be men and steal from me yourselves instead of being cowardly little boys and get the terrorist politicians to steal from me for you? That's the least you could do...Give me the chance to defend MY property personally.
Posted Jan 7, 2009, 9:19 AM by Mandy
Well, I just got rid of my 2007 Dodge Ram, and my wife and I are trying in earnest to sell our 2006 Chrysler 300...one of the worst cars we've ever had. It spent more time in the shop then our garage at home. THANKS TO YOUR SELFISHNESS AND WASTING OF MY MONEY, I WILL NEVER EVER EVER BUY ANOTHER CHRYSLER PRODUCT AGAIN, SO HELP ME GOD. GET SCREWED, CHRYSLER.
Posted Jan 8, 2009, 7:12 AM by phuck_chrysler
I agree...Time to rid this great country of all the tax-taking scumbags!!!
Posted Jan 8, 2009, 7:12 AM by Phillip
To all you naysayers and condemners on here: Following your "logic" you all better be boycotting all the banks and insurance companies also. They received a BAILOUT with absolutely NO STRINGS ATTACHED and have done nothing to help the economy. Oh wait...CitiBank did spend millions of dollars sponsoring a football game. Sure seems funny none of you people are wailing away at that. Chrysler received a LOAN. With MANY strings, regulations, and oversight attached. And they must pay it back. Mr. Nardelli and company have been on board for only just about a year. They inherited a mess that Daimler left them and have been making substantial progress until this current economic debacle came.....which by the way is NOT the automakers fault. It's amazing nowadays how people are led around by their noses by the mainstream media and the now ubiquitous "gospel" blogs. Keep drinking the "kool-aide". Best of luck, Chrysler !!
Posted Jan 8, 2009, 5:09 PM by ricku
Please don't thank me for anything, because if you had actually asked me for the money, you would not have received it. The UAW is strangling the auto industry and you guys caved in to their whining. To get paid what they do for the kind of work they do, not to mention the benefits, is criminal, literally. The UAW is a perfect example of greed and corruption gone completely amuck and has outlived it's usefulness as an organization. The same goes for most other unions in this country, but especially the UAW. Fire them all and hire back the ones who will do the work for $15-20 /hr and take the money you save from that and lower the average price of your vehicles. Then you can thank me. In the mean time - piss off. You should have all been denied any bailout whatsoever and had to lie in the bed you made. If that means no Chrysler, GM or Ford, then that's what it means. We could look back at history one day and say, "See what happens when big wasteful corporations pay exorbitant management salaries and give ridiculous 'Golden parachute' clauses to CEO's and pay ridiculous salaries to union employees? They go bust!" So no, you are most definitely NOT welcome. And when you go down in flames after the bailout money runs out, take Ford, GM and the UAW with you. Thomas Maretzki San Antonio, TX
Posted Jan 8, 2009, 5:09 PM by tmaretzki
The Taxpayer has got to be the most stupid animal on planet earth. Laughably stupid. Followed closely by the government-lovers.
Posted Jan 8, 2009, 5:09 PM by PamR
Maybe we need to start stealing from you!
Posted Jan 9, 2009, 9:38 AM by Ellen S.
I can't believe there are people who actully don't like their money stolen from them by political terrorists. Tell that loser parasite Gettelfinger to...Just throw those UAW monkeys bananas.
Posted Jan 10, 2009, 2:38 PM by Fred Teller
The intelligent people recognize that the "stupid parasite" voter's governments killed Detroit with their murdering taxes and laws...Especially laws that allow the filthy UAW maggots to exist.
Posted Jan 10, 2009, 2:38 PM by Wendy
This ad goes to show that you MBA educated, six figure earning schmoes are about as fiscally responsible as a five year old with a 20 dollar bill in a candy store! I hope that our hard earned tax dollars can still afford your luxurious homes and lavish vacation spots while your factory line workers have their houses foreclosed upon because you would not help them in the least bit! I "seriously" hope that you are able to sleep well on your 1000 thread Sateen sheets while many of your former employees that you laid off and became homeless are lying in streets, under bridges while lying under cardboard (if they are lucky)! Have fun skiing in Tahoe and Aspen (I think I saw you on the slopes of Switzerland) while your former employees shovel snow to put food on the table! You must feel like a king in your high skyscraper office looking down on the peasants of Detroit surrying about for food!! I always thought your cars to be crap and your lousy business ethic and saviness is better proof as to not buy a Chrysler at all!!
Posted Jan 17, 2009, 4:41 PM by gaseous69
Geez chrysler just got even more money, 1.5B from the taxpayers to fund the sales of their crappy products. It's the never ending circus starring the peoples money handled by companies that can't build what the rightful owners of said money want. People it's time for you to write your elected officials and demand that this come to an end.
Posted Jan 17, 2009, 4:41 PM by Puffnstuff
®Copyright 2008 Chrysler LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)