No, thank you Chrysler . . . for confirming our worst suspicions about the bailout
This story's been out for a few days, but my little corner of the blogosphere was blissfully unaware of such goings on, it would seem. Had I picked up on it earlier, it would have been assigned priority lampoon status 1, but you know what they say: better late than never. Anyway, for those of you who are NOT in the know, like yours truly, Chrysler apparently determined that the best possible use of their newly acquired largesse was to dump over $600,000 on ads thanking the American public for (temporarily) keeping their nuts off the chopping block.
Chrysler's ads, and the misplaced sentiment that inspired them, are so utterly stupid and indefensible that it's hard to know where to begin lambasting. There are so many directions one could go with this, but let's start with the obvious:
Just what was Mr. Nardelli thinking when he took out several VERY expensive ads, with recently appropriated taxpayer money mind you, to thank America for contributing to a company widely seen as being wasteful and irresponsible?
I've always said there's no better way to restore confidence than frittering away $600K during the worst economic slump since the Great Depression. I'm sure hard-up Americans were proud and thankful that their tax dollars were "volunteered" to the terminal auto makers by Senatorial nincompoops Pelosi, Frank and Reid. But make no mistake, this money will be repaid, with interest, just as soon as Chrysler fires every last one of its design engineers, basically reinvents the engine and finds a way to compete with Japanese and German automakers who are decades ahead in fuel efficiency, design and reliability. Not too tall an order for the prodigies at Chrysler . . .
And way to show the American public that you aim to curb your wasteful spending practices and put the company back on the right track. Nothing says fresh and innovative thinking like falling back on the very bad habits that got you into this bind in the first place. I'm sure everyone is impressed with Chrysler's newfound respect, (read: clumsy and feigned appreciation) for the spineless American people, but improved gas mileage, dependability and styling that don't leave us wanting to scratch our eyes out would suffice.
Mr. Nardelli, this is not the way to go about proving to the American people that you aren't every bit the buffoon and low-idling thinker we suspect you are. We'll see you in a few months when the money's been siphoned off by greedy union bosses & spoiled employees and just generally pissed away on unrelated PR stunts. Keep up the good work!
