The Unanticipated Obvious Question

The Wall Street Journal chronicles the continuing self-destruction of the once grand Chrysler Corporation.

In May, Randy Painter and his nine siblings were taken aback to learn their 65-year-old family business—two Chrysler Group LLC dealerships in Nephi and St. George, Utah—would be terminated as part of the auto maker's restructuring. The dealerships, opened by their grandfather and father, respectively, were historically profitable and had long been an integral part of their small communities. Since June, they have struggled to convert their stores into used-car dealerships—and, like many rejected dealers, they still question the logic behind Chrysler's decision. 

Let's remember Spring 2009:  President Hopey-Changey and company rammed a pre-packaged 'bankruptcy', which violated much of the federal code, through the court of a willing judge, and what remained of Chrysler was handed to Fiat, in a no-cash transaction.  The bondholders, who held bonds that told them in black-letter type they were first in line in the event of a bankruptcy, were shoved to the end of the line, behind the UAW.  Many of the dealers, the ones tasked with selling the vehicles, were told that their franchises were being revoked arbitrarily, and in some cases, handed arbitrarily to other dealers; in one case, the franchise was handed to a dealership ACROSS THE ***!!!*** STREET from the former dealership.

Without notice. Without compensation. They were simply told to take a hike. Hope and Change have spoken.

Many of these dealers were multi-generation family businesses in smaller cities around the country. You know, the people who for eighty years had provided jobs, funded the local charities and churches, sponsored the softball teams, etc. etc.

All gone. You guys go away, even if you were making good money. Hope and Change have arrived, and your services are no longer needed. TV screens across the land were filled with the images of devastated family business owners standing in front of their empty dealerships sporting Chrysler signs, some of them freshly purchased a few months before, at the insistence of Chrysler Corporation.

Then comes Cash-for-Clunkers. Toyota wins, Ford wins, even GM sells some, and Chrysler sales barely move.  Then things got worse.

Even the press release hacks at Chrysler had to admit the truth at the bottom of the page after several paragraphs of optimistic verbiage.

Did anyone, anywhere in President Hopey-Changey's staff ever anticipate the potential car buyer's obvious question:

If they'll do this to their dealers, what will they do to me?