Nothing Obama, or his administration, does surprises me anymore. His policies are severely flawed and tend to only benefit certain groups that voted for him. Now we have the Inspector General over T.A.R.P., Neil Barofsky, telling us the Obama Administration used race, gender and location to close down auto dealerships. Oh, it only killed a few hundred thousand jobs.
What did the Inspector General discover? This is from page 22 of his report and it gives details to why some dealerships were favored:
GM officials attributed these inconsistencies primarily to a desire to maintain coverage in certain rural areas where they have a competitive advantage over import auto companies that are not typically located in rural areas, although ultimately close to half of all of the GM dealerships identified for termination were in rural areas. Other dealerships were retained because they were recently appointed, were key wholesale parts dealers, or were minority- or woman-owned dealerships.
Sounds like discrimination to me. But then again, nothing the Obama goons do surprises me anymore. Another example of ‘Equal protection under the law” getting Obama’s hit-and-run treatment.
So all these dealerships were closed in mostly rural areas, which voted McCain, while all the metro dealerships remained open, which voted Obama? It was about poitics.
Here is something else the Inspector General said in the report:
[E]xperts said that while metro areas were oversaturated with GM and Chrysler dealerships and reductions were needed in these areas, this was not the case in rural areas where GM and Chrysler had an advantage over their import competitors. [...]
Although sales volume in small towns may be lower, the cost of operating dealerships in small towns is lower as well. In addition, closing dealerships in small towns could ruin the “historic relationship” that GM has had with residents in small towns and force buyers to drive to metro areas, where there are more competitors. In the worst case, the loss of market share in small and medium-sized markets could “jeopardize the return to profitability” for GM and Chrysler, the (the Center for Automotive Research) representative said. Representatives from the National Automobile Dealers Association also concurred that dealership terminations would cause GM and Chrysler to lose market share in rural areas.
Great news. Obama promised no more bailouts. How long do you think this promise will last considering GM continues to lose money? This is what happens when the government takes over industry and appoints a CEO (Ed Whitacre) with zero auto industry experience.
We all know what happens when you elect someone with zero executive experience. He becomes president and starts using race and gender politics in his executive decisions.
