Events Calendar
In This Section
Call center to cut 250 jobs in Akron
Stocks fall as June job losses exceed estimates
GM urges quick approval of sale plan
Computer problems delay United flights at O'Hare
467,000 jobs cut in June; jobless rate at 9.5 percent
June jobless rate seen rising to 9.6 percent
Cleveland Clinic raising pay an average 3 percent
Chrysler dealers wait to hear from newly merged automaker
Most Read Stories
Akron judge in serious condition at Cleveland Clinic
Akron police arrest murder suspect within an hour
Falls police raid reputed heroin house
Man fit for trial in rape of girl, 2
Akron police investigating another homicide
UPDATE: Deadly motorcycle crash closes I-76
Ohio teen falls to his death inside state park
Call center to cut 250 jobs in Akron
Akron police find burned SUV likely used in drive-by shooting
Blogs:
Pets:
Summit teams up with Rescue Waggin' to save dogs
The Heldenfiles:
I Hate "More To Love"
Patrick McManamon:
Anyone notice this?
Akron Zips:
Basketball schedule nearing completion
Browns Bulletin:
Single-game ticket sales begin July 11
Tribe Matters:
Tribe adds fourth new reliever
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth test showed marijuana
Kent State Sports:
Men's Basketball Scheduling update
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Free Agency: Another Gone - Apparently
All Da King's Men:
IPCC Already Wrong About Global Warming
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Anti-Sex
Akron Law Café:
Star Powered Director Primacy
Varsity Letters:
Highland senior receives honor
See Jane Style:
Picnic Wear
Car Chase:
Where do We Go from Here?
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Hate Crime in Fort Worth Texas: "That F***t had it Coming"
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Michael asks where is the new Safari Adventure in Sandusky?
Sound Check:
Rundgren fans rejoice!: Second night of AWATS at The Civic added
HRLite House:
Sport Psychology and Performance Consulting
Akron Gamer:
Hot link: Best of Nintendo at E3
Chrysler affiliates in D.C. urge Congress to approve $25 billion for Detroit 3
By Jim Mackinnon
Beacon Journal business writer
Published on Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008
Chuck Eddy of Eddy Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Austintown is among Chrysler dealers from across the nation hitting Capitol Hill this week to push federal lawmakers to approve a $25 billion loan for beleaguered domestic automakers.
Eddy said that if Chrysler, General Motors and Ford do not get a multibillion-dollar bridge loan to tide them through the tough economy, it could close his dealership and many others nationwide.
And that, in turn, would throw tens of thousands of people out of work, rippling throughout local economies and hurting communities far and wide, Eddy and others said during a news conference Monday afternoon in Washington, D.C.
The message the dealers plan to tell senators and representatives is that securing a $25 billion loan for the Detroit Three automakers is not a bailout, Eddy said in the news conference and in an interview afterward.
''It's about building confidence in the industry,'' he said.
Lawmakers need to approve a bridge loan this week while Congress remains in session, Eddy said. ''It needs to happen now,'' he said.
The money will buy time for the automakers to regroup and get through the economic crisis that started in June, Eddy said.
''This is the most dire situation I've seen in the car business in my entire life,'' said Jim Arrigo, owner of Arrigo Dodge Chrysler Jeep in West Palm Beach, Fla.
There is intense debate in Washington and elsewhere about whether the nation is better off with the federal government loaning billions to the automakers or letting General Motors and other domestic automakers reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection if the companies fail to turn things around quickly. New vehicle sales have dramatically slumped and credit has dried up as part of the global financial crisis.
The discussion so far has not involved the many small businesses such as his dealership that depend upon a healthy Detroit Three, Eddy said.
Chrysler dealers nationally have about 140,000 employees who are in danger of losing their jobs if Chrysler or any of the other automakers files for bankruptcy protection, Eddy and two other dealership owners said.
''It is a huge impact on the local level,'' Eddy said. ''Our lifeline is what they [the carmakers] make up there. . . . What's at stake is about 140,000 people.''
Ohio has a huge stake in what happens to Chrysler and the other two domestic automakers because of the size of automobile-related manufacturing in the state as well as the number of dealers it has, Eddy said.
GM's Lordstown factory, which makes the Chevrolet Cobalt, is just 10 minutes from his Youngstown-area dealership, Eddy said. The Mahoning Valley's economy relies heavily upon that plant, and a GM bankruptcy that hurts Lordstown would have a huge impact on the region, he said.
''Once it starts, it's a domino effect. It won't stop,'' Eddy said.
A shutdown of Lordstown probably will close supplier plants
that make parts not just for GM but also for Chrysler and others, he said. That effectively will close plants among all major vehicle manufacturers in the United States, including Honda, Toyota and others, he said. And that, in turn, means he and other dealers won't have new cars and trucks to sell, he said.
''I don't think the average consumer understands what's at stake,'' Eddy said. ''What's at stake are people's lives.''
If Chrysler stops providing financial incentives for vehicles, that probably would put him out of business with the direct loss of 56 jobs, Eddy said. He said he started cutting expenses, including advertising and money spent supporting community organizations, about eight months ago.
The dealerships' lobbying efforts coincided with dismal economic figures involving the automakers and other manufacturers.
The regularly scheduled release Monday of the latest industrial production figures indicate the Detroit Three automakers are ''heading for a crash,'' said economist Ken Mayland of ClearView Economics in Pepper Pike.
Mayland noted that light vehicle sales fell 26 percent from May to October from a year ago, but that production of those vehicles fell 7 percent.
That means production is too high and needs to be cut more, Mayland wrote in an e-mail to his clients. And that, in turn, will intensify the Detroit Three's financial problems and make it harder for them to tap credit sources, he said.
Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com.
Chuck Eddy of Eddy Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Austintown is among Chrysler dealers from across the nation hitting Capitol Hill this week to push federal lawmakers to approve a $25 billion loan for beleaguered domestic automakers.
Get the full article here.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Posted 09:08 AM, 11/18/2008
I'm not sure we should save all three if we are going to go forward. One of them needs to be let go. I wouldn't want to be the one making the decision either, but I think it is painfully obvious which one is the least competetive. In the long run that would make the other two stronger.
Posted 01:50 PM, 11/18/2008
IT WON'T HELP THE AUTO COMPANIES IF NO ONE HAS MONEY TO BUY NEW AUTOMOBILES. JUST GIVE THEM MORE MONEY SO THEY CAN GIVE THEMSELVES ANOTHER RAISE OR BONUS BEFORE THE BOTTOM FALLS OUT.
Sterling, Oh
Posted 03:30 PM, 11/18/2008
Auto dealers demanding legislators scam Fathers disqualified for affirmative action with white skin, Union workers, consumers, taxpayers, and America’s grandchildren, low income workers, volunteers without wages, and nonunion parasites willing to work for fewer wages than they can afford life. To fund investors and stockholders (money marketers) in the automotive industry with $25 billion derived from wages or independent business profit.
Is defiant of demands of Natural Law (what Mother Nature, God, or Whatever Power decreed to be the reality of the real world), God, democracy, capitalism, the US Constitution, and free, fair, and affordable commerce.
Demanding every corporation, farmer, business, outsourcer sweatshop, and nonprofit, tax-exempt, organization and Church markets the cost in the wholesale and retail price of his or her product and service. Of every workers, consumers, and taxpayers living (including pension and health care). Enabling parents to love, nurse, nurture, discipline, protect, and provide, for every child (job) they conceive and fund schools, infrastructure, national security, government services, and etc.; with money derived from wages or independent business profit.
