Chrysler to survive

The only hangup right now is the assholes who hold Chrysler debt, who want 100 cents on the dollar rather than 0 cents on the dollar. They're going to come around, President Obama has essentially told them that if they don't accept Chrysler stock in exchange for their debt, they're going to get 0 cents on the dollar -- he's going to give Chrysler a bankruptcy bridge loan and have a bankruptcy judge write off their loans altogether.

It's fashionable to pooh-pooh Chrysler's product line. But their mini-van line is the best in the world, so good that Volkswagen is buying it and re-packaging it for sell both in the USA and elsewhere rather than develop a new minivan of their own to replace the now-defunct "Euro-Van". Their Jeep line is still the most offroad capable in the world and is legendary amongst offroad enthusiasts -- there is no substitute for a Jeep when you want to head up Isham Canyon. The problem with their car lines is that they were gutted by Daimler-Benz -- until the Germans raped Chrysler, Chrysler had the most fuel-efficient car lineup of any American manufacturer, even their large cars were fuel-efficient front-wheel-drive cars powered by six cylinder engines rather than being huge gas-guzzling V8-powered rear-wheel-drive cars. Fiat is going to help them fix that. So for any true car enthusiast, this is a win-win situation. We get to preserve some best-in-the-world technology with the promise of a lot of new technology to come.

-- Badtux the Car Penguin