I don't believe Atlas will shrug. I believe our government will sink further away from the wisdom of our founders. The taking of our labor for payment to the 'less fortunate' will continue until we resemble Zimbabwe.

Joyce M, do you have the slighest clue what goes on in the real world? Your comments are a worthless waste of bandwidth. I bet you're one of the ones I saw on TV saying Obama was going to save the country and help make your mortgage payments. LOL LOL LOL

enough of you voted for the new president...what did you think was going to happen? Suggest you get your hands on your assests/$ and manage for yourself before you've nothing left...we can't trust our government

Someone asked "what can we do?" The only thing we can do in this democracy is vote some reasonable, free-market candidates into the US House and Senate in 2010. Start working on it today!!

To George - I am personally very sorry for what is happening to you and your family and employees. God be with you!

Please show me in the franchisee contract where the franchisee is guaranteed a risk-free, consequence-free business for life?

He writes in all-caps and with exclamation points, but no where in this letter does he specifically mention how his franchisee contract has been violated.

Does he own a business or an entitlement?

So did any of you outraged posters realize what was happening when Congress rewrote bankruptcy law based on Corporate America's blueprint? Of course not. Now we reap what was sown. Bankruptcy should protect the little guy, but it is now written so things like this travesty of justice occur regularly. And yet most of you posting probably thought "yeah, those people in bankruptcy deserve to suffer because they are irresponsible." Here is the sad, but predictable outcome.

Maybe you can admit government can have a positive role in reigning in Corporate America's excesses?

Let's see if the "confiscated franchise's" are doled out to minorities.

I'm ready to stand up... but what can we do?

Obama and his doe-eyed Speaker is in charge now. Get ready to bend over many, many times before it ends. We now live in the Socalist Republic of America, thanks to the uninformed and government educated voting public.

It is my fondest hope that situations like this ring from the top of the highest mountain until the greedy, selfish and completely led-by-the-nose media decides that they can make more money SPREADING THE TRUTH ABOUT THIS CRIME. Wake the #$%# UP AMERICA. See how much you like the way the guy speaks when you can't afford to keep the electricity on in order to hear him.

I'm literally speechless. I knew dealers were in a very tough place with this socialistic bullcrap but it hits an even deeper nerve to read something such as this that comes right from the horse's mouth. This IS NOT the America I love (loved?) and other than vote and influence others as often and as best as I can I don't know what to do to bring back this once great nation. It's totally depressing to believe, as I do, that the USA has seen her best days and it's all downhill from here.

This is what Hope and Change we all got bfrom the idiots that voted Obaba in.

Sean you may be right in the instance of most franchises. The automotive industry is different. There is no law against what is happening. Chrysler has every right to evaluate the marketplace and demographics of any region or territory and eliminate dealership franchises. This is not uncommon. The reason this is getting such exposure now is because the elimination of franchises is being done on a much larger scale.
Have you noticed that a few decades ago, there where many dealerships that carried only one franchise? The reason that is not the case anymore is because of this practice of franchise elimination from manufacturers. When one franchise is removed, chances are that dealership also has franchises with other manufacturers - as is the case with this dealer.

I am not saying that this is good - in any way. This is just a fact and a risk that the dealerships are aware of when they sign into the franchise agreement.

This dealership is a customer of the company that I work for and Chrysler as well as all of the other Automobile manufacturers is one of our vendors.

"It’s a natural byproduct of socialism, and since a majority of voters and electors voted to adopt socialism, this will become the norm."

What a ridiculous statement. The voters of this country did not elect Obama because of his socialist views. Seriously, what kind of moron would knowingly vote for economic enslavement?

No, instead I saw this as an 'American Idol' type of election if ever there was one. An election between a rockstar and a crusty old man.

Where have you been?

The airline industry in general would have ALL gone down the tubes if Delta, etc hadn't reorganized the way they did, that situation affect a lot more than just one airline! But they did it!

I've watched documentaries on working on an assembly line, what's so difficult about it? An overhead crane does most of the work. Union workers get paid way more than they are worth and get much better retirement benefits than any of the rest of America. Except Congress. Oh and all government workers. Funny how that works.

Workers (not just union), entrepreneurs, risk takers all TOGETHER are what made this country. Not ONE group, all. Three sides of a stool.

But now, our government (both sides) are busy killing two sides of that stool. Building up the third. Guess what will happen?

It falls.

Hey, did you ever hear the one about the Polock who tried to commit suicide by running his truck in the garage?

It ran out of Diesel first.......

Better find some other source to blame for your Asthma.

As it was so succinctly put in Animal House " Fat,stupid,and lazy is no way to go through life".

Blaming a diesel powered vehicle for your problems is as BS as all the second hand smoke hysteria, ever wonder how the rest of the world runs diesels that emit far MORE pollution than our "oversize,mammoth Dodge diesel trucks" and do not seem to create problems for Asthmatics?

Yea, one other thing, I get 24 MPG out of a useful vehicle, don't bother calling me to haul stuff that would break your Prius in half.

Can you explain how this is Obama fault? My understanding is that dealerships are being closed down by the company itself. In fact, part of the bankruptcy decision was so that they could bypass state laws that have made dealerships untouchable.

Whoa! While this is a sad story, most of this isn't a BO/Dem issue. Speaking as a turnaround specialist who has worked with distributors before, there are a number of open questions/issues here:

1) Is this distributor worse off than if the govt hadn't gotten involved?

Given that the alternative was bankruptcy, this is probably a no - distributors tend to get knocked about when a manufacturer goes bankrupt. The reality is most distributor agreements are heavily biased towards the manufacturer (since most distributors were founded by relationship-focused ex-salespeople who are highly optimistic and routinely agree to contract clauses which give the manufacturer great power when the situation goes south) - and often the manufacturer has the right to terminate or "add" distribution in a market. The fact you invested several million dollars on Chrysler's behalf (or insistance) sucks but...did you bother to get a committment or piece of paper stating some type of quid-pro-quo committment to your business? No - and you are correct that "they don't do that"... but you accepted that deal...

Inventory buyback and factory incentive money are common issues that need to be negotiated in one of these agreements. However - these become risk points with a distressed manufacturer (because you can't sue to uphold the agreement) and are issues that would have occured with any Chrysler bankruptcy, regardless of government intervention...

2) I am surprised that Chrysler isn't doing more to relieve the parts and inventory situation...that is a ripe for market disruption (seriously, what would happen to pricing power in the local market if you dumped 125 "like-new" vehicles at bank liquidation prices... you would sink the remaining dealership...

3) One possible set of "good questions" is who owns the remaining dealership - did any dealers receive preference in the process from factors unrelated to their marketing effectiveness. Are they minority, female, or have a history of political contributions (or activity, connections)... I suspect a degree of sensitivity around this in the dealer selections but it would be interesting to see how this played out. The rationale for terminating the dealers is unclear...since it probably doesn't cost much to support term. Are they trying to raise resale margins to improve the financial condition of the dealer base? This isn't an economy where I would terminate dealers for lack of volume...since they probably all suck equally... (since autos are a one or two product/location deal vs. a multi line industrial distribution setup)...

There's enough legitimate outrage - while this is tragic, it's not BO's fault (unless you find something on the preference piece)...

This is what Democrats and 53% of voters who voted for Obama want. If you want see the future of America, Hawaii is the future how America will look like. We are now all Democrats. Democrats Rule!

Sad to see someone who built something from the ground up be f'd so bad. however, I bet the same thing would have happened if McCain was president.

Two side of the same coin.



Ron Paul 2012

I'm not sure where to start! This is all too depressing. Do you have any ideas, I'll listen!!!

So lemme get this straight, Copy is the piece of garbage but you’re the one hoping for terrorist attacks? That about sum up your position, psycho?
How much does it make you Bush fans cringe knowing this guy is on your side?

Hey, Killer, I see what you mean by “hate-filled right wingers.” Nice call, dude!

I asked you a question: when are you socialists planning to nationalize the entire economy?

Just want to know ahead of time so those of us in the productive class can move our assets offshore.

He doesn't say who is telling him this, only "I was notified that my Dodge franchise ... will be taken away from my family ... without compensation..." Is this a Chrysler decision? A Federal Government decision? Does his dealership contract with Chrysler say they can do that? If it does, it was a regrettable decision to have signed it. It's incredible that his inventory HE BOUGHT can be taken from him without any compensation. Interesting about the Alabama law. No doubt this dealer is contacting attorneys left and right about this issue. I wonder if Boortz would be interested in coming out of retirement and taking the case.

And Copyleft, you forgot Eastern which went bankrupt thanks to capitalism, er, uh, the pilots' union.

You are correct, those companies did go belly up and it caused a lot of grief. The big difference is, look at us a few years later, those companies are gone and we don't have tax dollars being used to continue to prop them up. The same thing should have been done with Chrysler and GMC. Instead we gave them billions and the govt took them over anyway.
The fact that you cannot differentiate the difference between the situations tells me that you have your head up your rear. What flavor of kool-aid do you have in your bowels?

My wife has a GMC envoy that we just paid off, I have had three jeeps in the last 10 years. After seeing what is going on, we are getting rid of the GMC for a foreign made car (I'm thinking lexus or mercedes benz). I'd sell my jeep right now too but hell, who's gonna buy it? Might as well run it to the ground. Like other on here, I will never buy a union made government owned American car again. I feel sorry for Ford, they think they are in the clear, but how can they compete against govt subsidized car corporations.
I feel sorry for minorities, it's sad to see that the first minority president is turning out to be such an a-hole, not really the greatest precedent.

I feel for the dealers that are being left out in the cold. There should have been something where the inventory was taken back if they wanted out of the contract or the dealers that survive must draw cars from the loser dealerships first as a part of being selected for survival.

hey, maybe I'm wrong (it's happened before) but my understanding is the govt prevented chrysler from going ch 7.

delta did not go ch 7 because it was in better shape.

with govt backing, chrysler was able to restructure under other chapters of bankruptcy.

I'm no expert - anyone have the real deal on this?

Waaaahhhhhh!!

Too bad.

We consumers will pick over your dead assets and prosper.

Sucks to be him.

If you voted for Obama, that was your first mistake. Do you support the UAW, then that is your second mistake.

When you start to layoff employees, identify those that voted for BO and lay them off first. A good lesson in economics for them.

This is very sad. It is horrible that the government is taking over and costing us jobs and good quality of life. I have lived through a similar incident with my husband, a doctor. He also was pushed/forced out of private practice. Insurance companies and Medicare did not pay enough to cover our overhead and salaries. We had to move out of town and join a group practice in order to survive. Our country is in a sad state when these atrocities happen. Sunshine Dodge-Isuzu was a landmark company in its town. When it goes the town will lose a great company, taxes and many jobs. When my husband left private practice and we moved away there were patients crying and a big void in the medical community. How can all of this be considered an improvement in our lives??? This is a tragedy that will take years/generations to recover. Free market is not perfect but at least you have a chance with hard work. In a government/socialist market why bother working you can not get ahead unless you have connections. Makes me very mad!!!!

Ah the wonders of this new morot car company-

Obama -
Fiat
UAW
Chrysler

New Symbol

O-FUC

Is that the left-wing goons who post on this page simply for dissension's sake even found something to try to argue against this story. Proof they do not have views of their own unless one counts believing the opposite of what the "hate-filled right wingers" believe.

Additionally, I cannot get over how often lefties question the authenticity of something like this, considering all the honesty present on their side of the aisle (ACORN, voter fraud, Dan Rather immediately come to mind).

"Who is John Galt?"

So Chrysler closes this guys franchise (illegally). So what's this guy going to do? Sell, sell, sell, that's what. He will no longer be bound by franchise pricing restrictions, so he, and others like him, are going to be putting a lot of "new" Chryslers on the market for cheap. Cheaper than any legitamate dealer will be able to sell them for. Will he lose money? Sure he will, but maby he will be able to scrape through his crisis intact. Those cars won't sit on the lots, they will be discounted until they sell. It seems to me that Chrysler will be off to a great start as they come out of a bankruptcy only to compete with a fleet of cheap cars and trucks that they unofficially authorized to be sold at bargain basement prices.

You have no idea what you are talking about. Reading your blowhard comments is a waste of time

On another subject, I had a flex pipe go bad on my Town and Country. Chrysler wanted 550 for the part (20 inch pipe). I found an aftermarket for $40 on ebay NEW. My mechanic said it was actually better quality than the Chrysler part.

Welcome to the United Socialist States of America. enough said

I'm not sure what the dealer wants, a hand out?

What is is complaint? He continued his parents business model, and remained with Chrysler. I would have bailed on that company in the 80's.

Free Market, means you can fail. Deal with it. I have to deal with it every day, just like 90% of the rest of the nation.

As Stearman suggested, burn it to the ground, like the oilfield in "Atlas Shrugged", or sit there with a shotgun, and wait for them to come for you.

Sorry, you can try to blame the corporation. But who forced thsi bankruptcy skirting the normal order of creditors?

That was none other than Team BHO, not Chrysler.

Mr. Joseph should get every employees, and some friends and family, get every car on his lot and go blockade the nearest federal building!
Note to Copy Left : Sunshine Dodge is a privately owned small business, not a cog of Chrysler Corporation. Your ignorance is especially obvious today.
Note to D.D.: what is in any way funny about the Dodge Dealer's plight??

I have owned GM and Dodge cars and vans over the years but never again. I will never buy another GM or Crysler car again, not even used. Ford or Japanese for me from now own. Plus, withhte new milage standards imposed by "THE ONE", you can expect the used car indistry to skyrocket.

When they came for the executives, Stan, Gavin and Copyleft said nothing. Why should they, they aren't evil, greedy execs.

When they came for the car dealerships, Stan, Gavin and Copyleft said nothing. The dealers are just minor cogs in a system.

When they came for Stan, Gavin and Copyleft, no one was left to say a thing.

when I read this to me it looks like the owner of the dealership is asking how the dealership he paid for can be given to some one else with out his fore knowledge.
Also, people if your going to post leave name calling out of your posts. Saying things like PrezBo makes your point look weak.

i was thinking of the same thing...

I will no longer buy any union made vehicle as long as I can help it. Thanks democrats, thanks ignorant masses, thanks unions ....thanks for making this country a shameful and unjust place.

Mr. Joseph should have seen the writing on the wall and donated heavily to Il Duce Hussein and his New American Crypto Fascist Party.

Maybe then, like other in Congress, he could have found himself benefiting from the take over of private businesses by His Excellency, Il Duce obama.

Florida when whole square for the Marxist, hook, line, and sinker. So sorry you got burned, but look at it this way. Your loss is for the greater good of America. Think of all you can now give back to your community. Think of the poor people who can now afford to buy your cars. (Personally, I would hire a good lawyer, and sue the pants off the bastards, but then again, I'm a hate filled, right wing, racist, homophobic, conservative.)

Not that this is any surprise, but our elected idiots live in their own bubble up in D.C. How can a situation such as what is happening to Mr. Joseph be stopped? He has to have SOME form of legal protection, doesn't he, or does Dodge have the right to just screw him over like that?

This country is going to hell. Forget the handbasket- we're on the A train.

If the US can do this to a family business, what and who is next?

I feel for this guy. He was a success & many persons were dependent on him for their livelyhood. This should not be happening in the USA.

A company experiencing tough times can lay off employees, may of whom have a record of years of distinguished service and hard work.

Similarly, a company experiencing tough times can terminate franchise, licensing, joint venture, partnership, or other such agreements, within the bounds of whatever contractual language is in effect.

I thought visitors to ths site supported capitalism. Capitalism is good but like most good things does have its uglier side sometimes.

He needs to ask how many of his employees voted for Obama... During the entire election people said he was a socialist and they were ran out of town as nuts... ONE BIG A** Mistake America.

Your vote is your money...spend it wisely.

Dear Mr. Joseph:

Did you vote for Barack Obama? If so, then shut up, bend over, and take it like a man, because THIS is what you voted for.

If you didn't vote for Barack Obama, go get your neighbors who did and see if THEY will buy your inventory. (Good luck with that.)

"HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN IN A FREE MARKET ECONOMY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?"

Easy, people voted for personality instead of skill.

Why would anybody, in this day and time want to buy a dodge? I gave up on american made junk in the 80's. Had he been selling something worthwhile this story would be different.

I would burn that dealership to the ground before I'd let the Looter in Chief beat me out of it.

What I can't believe is how liberals ranted about George W. Bush circumventing the Constitution during his administration (which I dare anyone to prove) and yet here we have PrezBo openly running circles around it and those same louts say nothing.

There are laws against some of the things he's doing but they're ignored. Yeah, I know, the Anointed One can do no wrong and those laws only get in the way of real change.

...makes me want to throw up.

Dear God! This sounds like it came right out of "Atlas Shrugged!"

Money had to pass hands somewhere, ask the former ILGov...

Obama sucks........