Government in the Way Again at GM and Chrysler

Meinan Goto / December 07, 2009

There’s new evidence that General Motors and Chrysler, both owned partly by taxpayers, are still facing interference in the way they are run. The latest example comes not from the Obama Administration, but from Congress.

At issue are the closures of over 2,000 dealerships announced by the two firms last summer. Despite much grumbling, the decisions appeared to be a non-political one, potentially saving as much as $2.5 billion annually according to the Washington Post. But politics did come in, in the form of congressional pressure to keep the dealerships open. Now GM and Chrysler seem to be bowing – at least in part –to that pressure. (more…)