Tag Archives: Chrysler

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General Motors Is Alive – a reminder


| By ThinkProgress War Room

The article below was posted in October 2012

The Rescue of the Auto Industry — By the Numbers

At the height of the financial crisis, some people, including Mitt Romney, said we should “let Detroit go bankrupt.” And Bain Capital was one of the many private investors that refused to invest in the auto industry when it stood on the brink of collapse.

Fortunately, President Obama saved the U.S. auto industry and now it’s roaring back. For example, just today we learned that General Motors is adding another 2,000 jobs in Michigan. These jobs are coming to Michigan as part of larger effort to insource thousands of jobs at the world’s largest automaker.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Here’s a look at the auto rescue — by the numbers.

  • More than 1 million: Jobs saved by the auto rescue.
  • $85 billion: Totalspent by the U.S. government on the auto rescue.
  • $60 billion: Amount the government will likely recover.
  • $7.2 billion: Savings to taxpayers from reducedunemployment, Social Security, and other benefits in 2009 and 2010.
  • $97 billion: Estimated losses in personal incomes prevented by the auto rescue.
  • 26 percent:Remaining stake (of the initial 61 percent stake) held in GM by the government.
  • 0: Number of Chrysler shares currently held by the government.
  • 167,000: Number of jobs the automakers and their suppliers are forecasted to add by 2015.
  • 2.5 million: Number of people employed by the U.S. auto industry today, up from 2.3 million in August 2009.
  • 3.3 million: Cars and light trucks sold by GM and Chrysler in the past 12 months, up from 2.9 million in the previous period.

Figure 1

BOTTOM LINE: Mitt Romney said to “let Detroit go bankrupt,” but we didn’t do that and now the auto industry is helping to fuel the recovery in states across the country, particularly Michigan and Ohio.

Evening Brief: Important Stories That You Might’ve Missed

Leading GOP voter suppression expert says voter IDs laws are “a favor” for poor people.

Big Bird stars in a campaign ad and he greeted Mitt Romney today in Iowa.

Leading Democratic Senator says we “ought to scrap” tax reform that lowers tax rates.

After one Arkansas Republican lawmaker called slavery “a blessing in disguise,” another suggests that Jesus condoned it.

Mitt Romney’s tax plan: defeated by arithmetic. (Again.)

Another fail on foreign policy from Mitt Romney.

Billionaire CEO threatens to fire employees if Obama wins.

Buckle up: Super PAC spending is about to explode.

Australia’s female prime minister delivered a blistering speech on sexism and misogyny.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Burned to death


Jeep Grand Cherokees have extremely high risk of catching on fire in accidents — I saw a family burn to death that way. I’m asking the US government to issue a recall and get these dangerous cars off the road.

Last fall I was out for a drive with my dad when we hit a sudden traffic jam. A tractor trailer couldn’t stop in time, so it hit a bunch of cars from behind. We spun into a guardrail, but we were okay. We got out of the car to see that another family had survived, but their car, a Jeep Grand Cherokee, was on fire.

My dad tried to help them out of the car, but he was only able to save one of the teenage boys. The other boy and the mom were trapped, and burned to death. It was the most awful thing I have ever seen.

Jeep knows the fuel tank on Grand Cherokees is in the “crush zone,” which means the car is likely to catch on fire in an accident. Only 27 people ever died in Ford Pinto fires, but the Jeep Grand Cherokee number is 287 and rising. So why are these cars still on the road?

I started a petition on Change.org calling on the Department of Transportation and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue a recall on all 1993-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees and get these dangerous cars off the road. Will you click here to sign?

After the accident, I spent months grieving. I couldn’t get that family out of my head. Not only watching this mother and teenager burn to death, but watching her 18-year-old son watching it happen. Watching him cry, “Mom, Mom.” I’m a single mom with two teenaged boys, too, so that really hit home. When that boy was crying for his mother, he sounded like my boys.

The scariest part is this doesn’t just affect people who drive Jeeps — if you rear-end a Jeep Grand Cherokee in a collision, your car could catch on fire, too.

I’ve seen lots of Change.org petitions have success before, and I really hope mine will be one of them. The Department of Transportation and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are supposed to keep Americans safe. I hope that if enough people sign my petition, they’ll do the right thing and protect our safety over Chrysler’s bottom line.

Click here to sign my petition calling on the Department of Transportation and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to recall 1993-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees, which have killed 287 people so far.

Thank you,

Jenelle Embrey
Linden, Virginia

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Worst-case scenario … Sherrod Brown


We know that Karl Rove and his special interest friends are going to lie about me and my record in this campaign. And we know they’re going to spend a ton of money doing it.

Now, I’m not afraid to stand on my progressive values – and I’m always proud to defend my record of standing up for Ohio’s working families. What I do worry about is this: Will we be able to respond?

After all, telling the truth is free – but rapid response in a campaign costs money. And the worst-case scenario for this campaign is that the truth will be on our side – but that, because of Citizens United, the numbers will be on the side of the other guys…and the money won’t be there when we need to fight back.

That’s why we need to hit our fundraising goals – and why I hope you’ll click here to help make sure we have the resources we need to respond to Karl Rove’s smears.

There’s nothing worse than having to sit by, unable to right a wrong. When one of my colleagues says that cutting taxes on the wealthiest one percent will reduce the deficit, I want to tell him why he’s wrong. When I see an Ohio homeowner struggling to avoid foreclosure, I want to help.

And when I see an ad on Ohio’s airwaves lying about me, I want to set the record straight – online and offline, on the doors and on the phones.

But if we don’t hit our goals – like the $120,000 one we’re up against right now – we might be unable to do that. That’s Karl Rove’s game plan: Wear us down and drown us out.

We must raise $20 from 6,000 people by the end of February to keep on pace – and to make sure we can respond when we’re attacked. Please click here to give now.

There’s going to come a day – maybe soon – when I ask Sarah whether we have enough resources to respond to something ugly Karl Rove put on our airwaves. And when I do, her answer will depend on whether supporters like you have done the hard work it takes to meet goals like this one.

I know you’ll come through – just like you always have.

Thank you for helping us be ready,

Sherrod