Bailout by American Taxpayers
Almost a year later, Fiat/Chrysler has now walked away with $14 billion of American taxpayers’ money.
This gigantic sum was given under the condition that the company restructure itself to focus on saving good American jobs and creating fuel-efficient cars.
And now, the country is facing a nearly 10% unemployment rate—the highest it has been in 26 years—with 7.2 million job losses since the recession started in December 2007. It should come as no surprise that those who work for the auto industry and companies that support it have suffered the most during this recession. Over 400,000 jobs have been shed from the auto industry, and nearly one in 10 Michigan residents is out of work. Michigan, the home of Chrysler, faces a 14.7% unemployment rate—5.2% higher than the national average.
Faced with this situation, what does Fiat/Chrysler do to live up to the pledge to save jobs in exchange for the taxpayer bailout? They decide to destroy the 3 largest American auto transport companies that employ 5,000 drivers who deliver new cars safely to dealers for sale to American consumers. Fiat/Chrysler stands to pocket only about 30 dollars per car by this heartless move. And the loyal, hard-working American workers who have already sacrificed nearly one-fifth of their pay to save the auto industry will have lost millions when the final worker is thrown onto the unemployment line.
American taxpayers will be asked to pay for the greed of the auto-giants a second time when they pick up the costs for more unemployment, more foreclosures and more ruined working families.
It is now time for Fiat/Chrysler to help rebuild the country. They owe it to the taxpayers who handed the companies billions in bailout money, and they owe it to the millions of Americans who believed in the importance of American-made cars and the millions of hands who supported and built Chrysler cars throughout the years.
Call your Senators and Representative at (202) 224-3121 and ask them to tell Chrysler to live up to its promises. Click here to find out who represents you in Congress.
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