Chrysler may close 789 dealerships in bankruptcy plan; General Motors plans to let 1,100 franchises expire next year

The Associated Press reported Thursday that automaker Chrysler is considering closing nearly one-quarter of its dealerships in order to reach an agreement with the bankruptcy court. 

In the same story, it was also revealed that General Motors would be declining to renew franchise agreements with as many as 1,100 dealers when they expire next year.

So, President Obama, since the government took the American auto industry under its wing, do we tally the jobs lost in these closures under the column for “saved” or “created?”  My spreadsheet keeps giving me an error message when I try and jam a negative number into cells that can only contain positives.  Maybe if you lend me whatever Bizarro World version of Microsoft Excel Treasury Secretary Geithner is using, I can get the economic data synchronized with the promises made from behind your presidential ‘prompter.

These changes may be the much-needed fat-trimming on the retail side of operations that American automakers have avoided for decades, but the moves will send thousands more Americans to the unemployment office at a time when the American economy needs an increase in employment alongside evidence that corporations are making healthier choices for their long-term survival.  The restructuring would also appear to offer little or no good news for industry growth in the future, and should lead many to predict more layoffs on the manufacturing side.

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