New Romney ad blames auto bailout for job loss

[Judi Lynn]

Source: CBS News

August 1, 2012 12:06 PM
New Romney ad blames auto bailout for job loss

CBS News) A new television advertisement released by Mitt Romney's campaign says President Obama's 2009 auto bailout of General Motors and Chrysler led to job loss as car dealers had to close their dealerships.

Ohio car dealership owner Al Zarzour is featured in the ad, saying he had been selling cars since 1972 until he received a letter from General Motors notifying him they were suspending his credit line.

"In 2009, under the Obama Administration's bailout of General Motors, Ohio dealerships were forced to close," Zarzour said.

The ad is released on the heels of a new Quinnipiac/CBS News/New York Times poll, which shows President Obama with a 6 percent lead in the battleground state of Ohio, the focus of the ad. The ad is risky as the auto bailout has proven popular in the state that ranks second in auto industry workers.

Obama for America spokesperson Frank Benenati called the ad a "new low."


Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57484452-503544/new-romney-ad-blames-auto-bailout-for-job-loss/

[rfranklin]

1. Of course, without the bailout there would be far fewer dealers left...

but who cares about the details!

[greatauntoftriplets]

4. I was going to make the exact same point but you beat me to it.

@ Rmoney.

[Festivito]

18. But, if GM had died then he'd not have received that letter!111!1!!

SO THERE!

And, if we hadn't killed bin Laden, then we wouldn't have to decrease the size of our military!!!1!11!

[broiles]

2. I guess they wouldn't have closed if GM went bankrupt?

[Psephos]

23. Just a thought, but GM DID go bankrupt. n/t

[louis-t]

3. Would have had to close anyway if GM had gone bankrupt.

They forget that part. I said earlier, this will backfire on Rumnuts.

[NeverEnuff]

5. ?

What would he have sold had they went bankrupt? Well, he can do that now.

[Angry Dragon]

6. Willard wanted all the dealerships to close except

Cadillac dealers

'you people' don't need cars ....... that is why they have buses

[berni_mccoy]

7. Wow. Tying the credit crisis caused by Bush to the auto industry bailout when everyone knows...

the credit crisis came *before* the bailout? Yep, bald faced lie. That's what Romney is running on.

[Botany]

8. So if GM and Chrysler had gone out of business those dealerships would still be open?

[Heather MC]

21. Yep he said it twice

[ThomThom]

9. Also any dealer could stay in business and sell

used cars and service they just couldn't sell GM. A lot of dealers also sell more than one type of car so they could continue to sell something else. How many jobs were really lost? Clearly not as many as if GM had closed it's doors. I think people will see the stupidity of this. Rmoney has nothing so he is reaching for anything no matter how silly.

[RedStateLiberal]

10. The source article demolishes Romney's ad in one paragraph:

And jobs were lost during the bailout, but only a fraction of the number that would have been lost without it. The structured bankruptcy, however, was estimated to have led to the loss of 365,000 jobs compared an estimated 1.8 million jobs if the federal government did not intervene, according to a 2010 study by CAR.

Which is worse Mitt? Losing 365K jobs, or losing 1.8 million jobs?

Bottom line - Rmoney supported losing 1.8 million jobs. Thanks for the reminder Mitt!

[bucolic_frolic]

11. Willard's Whirled

is where tax cuts close deficits and bankruptcies create jobs

The guy has a serious disconnect from reality

Too much religion?

Or too much money?

rMoney is going BONKERS

[JohnnyRingo]

12. We lost a Pontiac dealership here.

The other Pontiac dealer 5 miles away took over, then dropped the brand when they dissolved it. It's now a Cadillac dealership so it doesn't compete with the Buick dealer 2 miles away anymore. Performance minded buyers now go to the Chevy dealer 3 miles away.

This ad features a few crybaby car salesmen who thought they'd be better off if GM went bankrupt. Obviously, they were dropped because sales were low to begin with at their dealerships. Go back to selling Kirbys door to door.

It's called streamlined brand consolidation, and it's a big reason GM has recovered so quickly.

[amerciti001]

13. I fact, more to the point...

GM and Chrysler was scaling back on dealerships as a cost saving strategy, before the bailout. So, a lot of dealerships were on the line anyway.
For those who likes to research subject matters, google=gm closes dealerships to save money. In fact, some of the reasons Chrysler shut down dealerships were:
1. Most of the closed dealers sold less than 100 cars a year.
2. Most made less than $100,000 in profit each year.
3. Many were mixed dealers that sold Chrysler cars in addition to a competitor’s cars.
4. Lots of small dealers makes them all weak so that they can’t afford to advertise.
5. Lots of small, weak dealers reduces the quality of customer service.
6. Small dealers can’t provide the well-maintained, modern showrooms and service facilities like their competitors.
7. Many small dealers sold only a single product line like Jeep. It requires multiple models to support a single product line. For example Jeep Cherokee, Jeep Liberty, Jeep Wrangler.

Chrysler can no longer afford to develop that many models for each line so they need dealers that instead handle all the Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep products at a single dealer. There will be fewer models in each product line.

Basically, Chrysler will not save money directly by closing dealers, but they will have fewer dealers that are much stronger, able to advertise and compete better with the other car companies. Toyota manages to sell twice as many cars with one-third the number of dealers. http://www.spillingbuckets.com/2009/05/why-is-chrysler-closing-dealerships-how.html

So it now makes sense but I am sure there are many other arguments that can be made on how to fix things. What’s your view of the whole mess?

So, Mr. Al Zarzour, Obama didn't close you down, GM closed you down because your dealership were most likely an under-performaning dealership that made it hard on the more stronger deaerships to compete.

[JoePhilly]

14. I think Mitt is on the dope.

[abolugi]

19. Romey-

White punk on dope!

[erpowers]

15. Would Have Been Worse Under Romney

This one of those things that makes me wonder what is wrong with Mitt Romney. Why would he put out an ad like this? Just about everyone knows that Romney called for American automakers to go bankrupt.

Things would be far worse if Romney had been in charge or if his idea had been followed. How would any of the dealerships that closed have stayed open if American automakers had gone bankrupt? More dealerships would have had to close.

[DaveJ]

16. Ad makes no sense. Shaking up the stupid-vote, I guess.

All emotion and no logic. At best, a very number of few conservatives have heart, just lack the intelligence to process simple facts. They don't know how to fix problems, so they look at rmoney and other richies as though they are sugar daddies, careful not to upset them by raising their taxes or imposing any regulations, etc, just doing whatever the .1% tell them to do.

[abolugi]

20. + 1

All emotion and no logic....
exactly right!!

[nanabugg]

17. The ad indicates just what the GOP really thinks about its base...stupid! nt

[Kteachums]

22. Is he crazy?

I was in Ohio a few weeks ago and the people we visited were Obama all the way. I am grinning from ear to ear hearing this. When Ohio sees this they will kiss Rmoney goodbye! His campaign gets stupider and stupider!

[Monk06]

24. If car dealers, (who btw make a lot of money each year) saved up enough money from

their profits to buy their inventory cash on the barrel from the manufacturer they would still be in business. In stead the pocket their net profit and use the manufacturer like a borrower of last resort.

One of the reason GM got into trouble is it had too much debt on it's books as a result or carrying dealerships and car rental companies. That and lease to buy which is a money loser.