Obama to visit Toledo to highlight resurgence of American auto industry
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – President Barack Obama on Friday heads to Toledo to tour Chrysler’s Assembly Complex there to extract maximum political mileage from the fact that just over a week after Chrysler Group LLC paid off its federal bailout loan of $7.6 billion.
Paving the way to the visit is also a White House report released on Wednesday highlighting the resurgence of the American auto industry and emphasizing the turnaround of the companies that are now turning a profit after hanging on the borderline of collapse.
The report noted that the certain closures would have cost at least an additional one million jobs and devastated vast parts of our nation’s industrial heartland.
The presidential decision to “save GM (General Motors) and Chrysler was about more than those two companies,” said the report, adding, “It was about standing behind the countless workers, communities, and businesses – large and small – that depend on the automotive industry.”
The report cited the comeback shown by the American auto industry in last two years, with GM “expanding production and adding jobs,” while Chrysler repaying “its outstanding loans to the U.S. Treasury – six years ahead of schedule.”
“Since GM and Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy, the auto industry has created 115,000 jobs, its strongest period of job growth since the late 1990s. GM, Ford and Chrysler have all returned to profitability, and in 2010, the “Detroit three” gained market share for the first time since 1995,” the report highlighted.
Addressing journalists on Wednesday in the White House, Ron Bloom, Assistant to the President for Manufacturing Policy Ron Bloom said, “Now, the credit for that importantly goes to the men and women of those companies and their stakeholders, who all made very, very difficult decisions to come together.”
Bloom, however, added, “But we think that it is also worth noting that the courageous decision the President made to stand behind these companies.”
Asked to give a breakdown of the money involved in rejuvenating the American auto industry, Bloom told journalists, “The total funds invested, including the prior administration, into the industry is roughly $80 billion. Roughly $40 billion has been returned to date.”
“The remaining money is accounted for by stakes in General Motors — we’ve sold about half of what we own, but we still own the other half — a small equity stake in Chrysler; and a stake in Ally Financial, which is the old General Motors Acceptance Corporation,” Bloom added.
About the administration policy of selling the stakes, Bloom said, “I think it’s a question of a principle that we’ve adopted that we don’t think we should be a permanent or long-term player in the private economy, and we’re trying to be true to that principle.”
Bloom urged Congress to move ahead with pending law making process saying, “The actions taken by this Administration have laid the foundation for manufacturing’s quiet resurgence, but we cannot be complacent. That is why Congress must take action to build on our early momentum.”
On Friday around 1 p.m., the North Toledo plant of Chrysler where the company makes Jeep Wranglers, would be hosting President Obama as he is scheduled to arrive at Toledo Express Airport in the morning according to the White House sources.
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