USEDCARSALESMAN

Usedcarsalesman may "sell out"

Over the next few months, Usedcarsalesman is planning to reconfigure the use of a few of the web addresses he has kept registered since the days when Bill Clinton was still kicking-it in the Oval Office.  

One of those addresses, Usedcarsalesman.com, the address on which this very blog has "sat" since late 2004, may be included in that number.  

Why the possible change?  Well, reality is that "Usedcarsalesman.com" is a web address that might be able to "angle-in" on modest revenue from Google, courtesy of the many used car sales outfits paying to advertise online using Google's Adsense service.  

The address isn't doing this at present and, thus, Usedcarsalesman, himself, could be, in a small way, leaving money-on-the-table with his admittedly peerless opinion blog.  

So, if Usedcarsalesman alters it, how might Usedcarsalesman.com look in the months ahead. Usedcarsalesman suggests that it may incorporate the following two changes, numbered in order of importance:

1. Better serving the used car sales community and the used car buying public utilizing Google AdSense and other keyword-focused, used car related information.  The front page of Usedcarsalesman.com will be reorganized to display Adsense advertising based on the main keywords and keyword phrases that Google-search users enter concerning "used cars."  The main thing is the provision of helpful information concerning the keywords, keyword phrases in question.  Usedcarsalesman sees reason to believe that even Adsense ads are helpful to web searchers if clicking on them increase the searcher's awareness of a given topic more than might have been the case if the Adsense was not present 
2. Usedcarsalesman's blog will live on, it simply won't be "front-and-center" on Usedcarsalesman.com.  A link on the front page will take you to one or more pages containing all past and present Usedcarsalesman posts, as well as posts that Usedcarsalesman will add going forward.  

So, yes, when all is said and done, Usedcarsalesman may, for commercial reasons, be planning to actually start embracing the topic of used car sales on Usedcarsalesman.com, "selling-out" so to speak.   But, fear not -- he has no plans to let this disturb his blog. 

 

The Political Perils of Pandora?

Three days ago, Usedcarsalesman was perusing the long list of "stations" he had created on Pandora Radio and for some reason began recalling popular music he'd heard in the late 1980s and early 1990s.  It was about this same time that it dawned on him that he'd never actually heard the uncensored music of the famous/infamous band, "2 Live Crew."    

So, Usedcarsalesman typed "2 Live Crew" in to Pandora Radio's "Create a New Station" field.   Sure enough, uncensored singles by 2 Live Crew and similar bands began pounding his ears in all their -- what the suddenly "enlightened" Usedcarsalesman would now describe as -- jaw-droppingly "detailed" glory.

But the funny thing about all this to Usedcarsalesman, however, wasn't his 20-years-late discovery that some of 2 Live Crew's songs, in their uncensored form, were even raunchier than he thought.  

The funny thing was the "Meg Whitman for Governor of California" ads that, during a 6 hour stretch, played after songs including, or along the line's of, 2 Live's  "The F-ck Shop," "Put Her In The Buck"  and, naturally, "Me So Horny."  

Yes, it was nice that Meg Whitman was spending the money to reach him where his ears happened to have been at the time:  Pandora and "2 Live Crew Radio." But 2 Live Crew's uncensored lyrics and Whitman's political campaign ad made for some obviously odd bedfellows.     

Frankly, the "2 Live"/Whitman radio "event" actually stimulated Usedcarsalesman to visualize a future in which candidates who advertise on Pandora Radio might get politically (but Usedcarsalesman will add, "humorously") "side-swiped" on YouTube by clever supporters of their opponent.  

How, might you ask?  Well, a campaign opponent's supporters might shoot video of their computer screens showing the "enemy" candidate's Pandora Radio campaign-ad running on "2 Live Crew Radio" or a similarly raunchy, Pandora-created station. Then they would put the video on YouTube, sit back and let the world laugh.  

So, future-candidates-for-office-in-the-U.S.,  you heard it from Usedcarsalesman first:  Beware the possible political perils of advertising your campaign on Pandora Radio!    

 

 

Social Networking Sites Are a Friend of Network Gaming

Whether they know it or not, Social Networking sites -- particularly Facebook and Linkedin -- are another thing helping to take Network PC/Console gaming in to the main-stream, particularly to adults over-30 who may not have gamed much previously

Why?

When you are on Facebook and run into old buds who are 3,000 miles away, spur of the moment games of Madden '11 (online) are a lot easier to organize than a real-life rounds of golf!

The BloggersBulletin.org

Here's the story:  Usedcarsalesman decided he wasn't having much fun flying solo.   

And it also crossed his mind that his good readers probably didn't have a heck of a lot of patience for a dude who only posted when he felt like it -- you know, once a week or twice a month or once every two months.  

Furthermore, he figured his readers would reasonably flock to something updated everyday (heck maybe even more than once a day). 

But Usedcarsalesman knew he was only human; he new he couldn't sustain that kind of pace -- essay after essay, 7 days a week, an unrelenting flow of material produced without reprieve.  

So, Usedcarsalesman said, "I think if you want to keep readers interested and coming back to a blog, then you have to team up with some other writers and work together to update the one blog on a regular, daily basis." 

He floated this idea around within certain well-used forums and he also read certain blogs that already had adopted this team "modus operandi."  Usedcarsalesman's group-blogging concept seemed like a good ideas to others also. 

 
 

From all this came a group-blog which Usedcarsalesman started up with a partner of his.  It is called, TheBloggersBulletin.org.  The Bloggers' Bulletin focuses on the topic of blogging/social media and it currently has 45 Contributors.

Frankly, Usedcarsalesman has spent most of his time administering and editing The Bloggers' Bulletin lately. So his own house, the great "Usedcarsalesman.com," has fallen in to neglect, if not disrepair.  

Will Usedcarsalesman find a way to come back and again "reside" at Usedcarsalesman.com on a regular basis?  

He doesn't rule out some kind of part-time arrangement with Usedcarsalesman.com. 

After all, If TheBloggersBulletin.org is his new blog of residence, then Usedcarsalesman.com might serve Usedcarsalesman as his vacation getaway, right?  

Cash For Clunkers Prods A Few People Off The Car Buying Fence

 Ok, so we just heard about the "success" of Cash For Clunkers.  

(Well, maybe it is great for new car guys who sell a lot of 4Bangers.  But Usedcarsalesman is a Used car guy so he isn't seeing any money from this great new federal program). 

The feds messing with car buying incentives, tax deductions or tax exclusions has been a bit of a running thing for going on the last 20 years.  

Bill Clinton came in to office in '92, and he signed in a luxury tax on high-end automobiles.  So to circumvent this addition to the federal tax code, many in the general public decided to buy SUVs -- many of which are the so-called clunkers of today.  

(Usedcarsalesman also has a fond recollection of an Environmentalist girl-friend who enthusiastically explained to him in '92 that her Mother was buying a Range Rover since it was a luxury truck that side-stepped the tax hit newly imposed on high-end cars.  Such was the political "polarity reversal" that changes in the tax code could seem to induce).  

Obviously, the Cash for Clunkers programs isn't going to do a hell of a lot for urban air quality and at best, we might see a few more dealership owners on golf courses than in the last fiscal year (indicative of the extent of the economic stimulus).  And frankly, the only reason those cars/trucks are clunkers is because their former owners didn't know $hit about taking care of a vehicle or otherwise keeping it in optimum tune;  Usedcarsalesman has, for example, witnessed a well-maintained, 91 Ford Explorer with 300k+ get 20mpg in the city and 26mpg on the highway )

But I will give Cash for Clunkers this:  It has prodded a few people off the car-buying fence. And things in motion tend to stay in motion, right? 

   

Forest Lawn It Is

Usedcarsalesman exited the 134W freeway today at the Forest Lawn Dr Exit because he was trying to reach a commercial destination in Toluca Lake. 

He then proceeded up Forest Lawn Drive past the entrance to Griffith Park on his left and further along past the entrance of Mt. Sinai Memorial Park.  Then he rounded the bend and suddenly he saw TV media trucks -- not one or two, but probably enough to fill the lot of a large truck dealership in Southern California.   And all were seemingly in operation with their roof-top dishes pointed south-ward.  

At first Usedcarsalesman thought maybe the backside of the Hollywood Hills had experienced a heavy- duty forest fire.  But he didn't see helicopters dropping flame retardant chemicals or otherwise see any evidence of firemen, fire-trucks or hoses.

Though It took a couple of seconds, Usedcarsalesman finally deduced what all this media activity was probably about.  He was near a cemetery, "Forest Lawn Cemetery."  And who, of course was the very famous American Pop Artist who died so recently?

As Usedcarsalesman confirmed later that day,it was in fact Michael Jackson who was being laid to rest at Forest Lawn, apparently on July 7.  So all the media hardware was apparently there in anticipation of this event.   

Still, Usedcarsalesman was somewhat alarmed by what he was gazing upon.  And it wasn't because of the media trucks or the legions of people sitting outside the gate.  It was because Jackson's burial was at Forest Lawn itself.  

Now Usedcarsalesman isn't knocking Forest Lawn, but he is knocking its neighbor in the immediate vicinity:  a giant 4-6 square mile "armpit" of mud-bog real-estate presumably owned by Warner Bros (Correction, July 27:  Usedcarsalesman found out that this land is in development as part of a public works project) 

Usedcarsalesman, unfortunately had to witness as said "armpit" sat mostly muddy and treeless for the past 5 years! 

Now sure Forest Lawn Cemetery itself is probably very nice and Usedcarsalesman will have to visit the grounds sometime.  But he also has reason to suspect that when he gets up on its nice grassy, tomb-stone studded hills, he'll turn to face north and the view of the Warner Bros mud-bog/armpit will be magnificently G&d Awful!

If he could have, Usedcarsalesman would have said to Michael Jackson: "Mike, why not get buried at Neverland?  We could probably tweak the zoning for you if we passed a little cash around to the pols running in Santa Barbara's local elections... Or heck Mike, why not just go "old-school" and take the "dirt nap" at Hollywood Forever Cemetery?  That place is class and it has no bad views plus lots of nice things -- trees and so forth -- growing to obscure the main roadway.  And, hey  plenty of Hollywood celebs are buried there, too!"  

But Jackson went with Forest Lawn.  And maybe he was right.  After all he is kicking it there with Rick James which is pretty cool 

 

Usedcarsalesman Looks For Team-Mates To Work With On His New Blogs

Usedcarsalesman has been finding himself taking few "ups" lately -- "ups" in this case referring not to Usedcarsalesman meeting/selling a perspective customer walking on his lot, but the time he takes to post new items to this blog.    

Usedcarsalesman has instead been looking at arranging other blogs from domains he has long held. Thus far, these other blogs include the following:

• Spacemeals.com    "What's On The Menu In Outer Space?" (Space Entrepreneurialism has not quite found much in the way of support from the Feds, large institutional investors or smaller investors in the general public.  About the only supporters it has are a few guys who are very rich -- cats like Paul Allen, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and various Space Tourists such as Dennis Tito and Anousheh Ansari.   But, whether its space meals or space investments or space entrepreneurs, it's ultimately a growth area -- the public just doesn't know it yet)  
• E-Audience.com     "We're Watching It On the Web" (For People -- Like Usedcarsalesman -- who are avid users of legal, advertised/pay-service web video providers such as Hulu or Netflix; a monumental growth area that Usedcarsalesman digs!)
• RemotePilot.com   "If You Can't Lower Heaven, Then Raise Hell" (Aforementioned is the Motto of the 432d Air Expeditionary Wing that allegedly does the UAV driving for the US Air Force;  Blog is On UAVs and their Operators; U.S. Air Force is nearly tripling its current roster of UAV pilots by 2012.  Large orders for the next generation of UAVs have already been placed; This is another monumental growth area that Usedcarsalesman digs!) 
• Personfies.com  "Who Personifies What" (A blog that assigns labels to currently news-worthy public figures, including celebrities, politicians and professional athletes -- basically high-profile people who'd have a hard time suing Usedcarsalesman for libel; It's written for the sake of reader amusement and debate.  Not necessarily a growth area, but then again, do you really expect gossip to go out of style any time soon?)  

 Do you think that is it?   Just 4 new blogs, Usedcarsalesman?

 No, Usedcarsalesman also has another 10 blogs -- ones he's already configured with typepad.com blog software, appropriate affiliate advertisers, personalized domains and his own private outlines for their content focus.  Its just that he has not as yet begun adding content to them unlike the 4 aforementioned sites. (Click through all the domains on the lower right side of the page and you will find the ones with the 10 other blogs Usedcarsalesman is referring to)

Reality is, though, that 1 guy -- even Usedcarsalesman -- doing 1 blog and updating it regularly involves considerable work.  4-5 blogs means off-the-hook work for Usedcarsalesman at a pace that he probably cannot sustain for more than a 6 months before he feels himself compelled to destroy his computer, head to a cabin in Montana and start an end-of-the-world Cult.  And 15 blogs means a month's work with 2 hours sleep a day and then Usedcarsalesman takes an abrupt, stainless-steel-vacation at the LA County Morgue.  

Obviously, Usedcarsalesman would like to stay alive and in LA, so he is going to be looking for people who share his interests to team up with him in the writing of each of his respective new blogs.  Of course, these folks probably aren't going to all be in Los Angeles, but that's ok.  

  
 

Usedcarsalesman Gets Focused. Usedcarsalesman.com Stays Unfocused

Usedcarsalesman is looking at branching out in to more specific areas upon which to write.  But he doesn't plan to do this "branching-out" on the Usedcarsalesman.com blog 

No, he's going to do this "branched-out" writing on blogs associated with a one or more of the domains that you see listed on the left side of this page. Its his plan that his other blog(s) will, unlike Usedcarsalesman.com, have content and corresponding keywords that are specifically related to their respective domain names and blog titles. 

There's a good reason for this:  One of the long-time problems that has be-deviled this blog is that its URL/title, Usedcarsalesman.com, doesn't relate much to the keywords that reflect its content.  

There's no:  "Type Usedcarsalesman.com (or enter Usedcarsalesman as the keyword in your next Google search and find Usedcarsalesman.com on the first results page) to see what Used Cars are currently for sale in lots across North America." 

People type Usedcarsalesman.com and, instead, they get some dude's editorial "bishop-beating" on everything but Used Cars:  Not a "recipe" that really makes things easy or obvious to web-users that might be inclined to read Usedcarsalesman.com if the purpose of the site was more obvious and direct.   

True, Usedcarsalesman himself has well-justified his reasoning for using the Usedcarsalesman.com URL/Title as follows: 

"Yeah, see the Usedcarsalesman.com title is supposed to be funny...The blog is supposedly written by this shady sales character who, contrary to stereotype, likes to give his real beliefs (in writing) to the public for no personal gain ...It's kind of his psychological reprieve from always playing fast-and-loose with the facts at his day-job working on a hypothetical Used Car lot."

(Continued) "So you now see what this Usedcarsalesman blog is all about right? This blog makes sense to you now, right? Wait, why are you typing in ESPN.com in the...?" (The "Usedcarsalesman" Page is overwritten by sports scores and user never returns)   

Maybe if Usedcarsalesman.com was some kind of team-type blog written on the legal profession by a bunch of UCLA or USC law students, that might make a little more sense to readers -- the readers in that case likely being lawyers and law students themselves.   

Heck, what lawyer doesn't remember that line dropped by Demi Moore on the JAG Lawyer played by Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men:  "... *You know nothing about the law. You're a Used-car salesman, Daniel. You're an Ambulance Chaser with a rank. You're Nothing. Live with that."  Taking that approach with Usedcarsalesman.com might be a way to really tighten up the focus of the blog for a specific audience that's smart enough to get the title/gag. 

(*Of course, Usedcarsalesman as the JAG lawyer would reply to Demi:  "Sure sweetheart, but lets see how well "Nothing" pays the bills versus a "Usedcarsalesman" or an "Ambulance-Chaser." He'd also say:  "Our little back and forth here is really turning me on...I bet if we got you out of those navy whites and in a cat suit, you'd make a first-class Dominatrix." 

Anyway Usedcarsalesman is going to begin his "similar domain -similar title -similar keywords -similar content" change-of-strategy by starting a second blog on a trial basis called, spacemeals.com (Also spacemeal.com). 

This blog is going to focus solely on, yes, "space meals":  space food, snacks, freeze dried ice-cream, what NASA astronauts eat, what the Taikonauts and Cosmonauts eat, what's space meals are in the works, and space meal-reviews by the author and perhaps by various younger and older friends. 

You won't see any talk of space stations, science fiction films, area 51 or anything remotely and/or supposedly to do with other space-related topics in spacemeals.com.  Nope, it'll just be "space meals:"  All space meals all the time!  ...Bleh!

But if the new blog saves young parents some time when they are looking for gifts for their budding young family of astronauts, then Usedcarsalesman can handle staying within www.spacemeals.com's  narrow -- for him --focus. 

As for Usedcarsalesman.com, the blog, it looks like it's going to stay as is for a little while longer. 

 

Why is Usedcarsalesman.com called Usedcarsalesman.com?

It was about 1998 in McLean, Va.  The humble writer of this blog was at a Safeway grocery store, standing in a cue at the pharmacy counter.

While waiting for a pharmacist to return, said humble blog writer killed some time by glancing at a xerox of a newspaper article taped --presumably by the pharmacists or their staff -- to the counter's trim.  The article showed a chart titled something to the effect of:  "Poll ranking most trusted Professions."

Who did your humble blog writer see at the top of this list of most trusted professions?  If you said Pharmacists, you get a gold star.  

Maybe by taping this poll up, Safeway Pharmacists were attempting to raise their self-esteem for some reason.  Or maybe they were jabbing at local religious leaders who, during golf-outtings, incessently touted themselves as the professionals considered most trustworthy by the public.  Or -- though he hopes not -- maybe these Safeway Pharmacists were just surprised by this poll's results and thought it was a good joke.  

 

Anyway, this humble blog writer scanned the chart downward to see where it ranked other professions.  As he recalls, he didn't see any really interesting until he hit about the lower 1/3 of the results.  Then he started to see professions like "Lawyer" and "Elected-Representative" ("Elected Representative" doesn't generally come to mind when one thinks "profession," but this writer let it slide)

He figured that he would have spotted "Lawyer" or "Elected Representative" about half-way up the list or higher.  Perhaps this opinion poll was influenced by the difficulties President Clinton was having at the time.   Perhaps it was inordinately derived from the opinions of people who had just received an exorbitant  bill from their defense attorney.

But when he reached the bottom of the list, he then saw the "profession" that apparently sat "dead -last" in people's minds when it came to trustworthiness:   "Car Salesman."

Yes, this humble blog writer probably had to agree with the poll on that one (Let's just say he was somehow "familiar" with the retail car business at the time).  Whether it was arranging an auto loan at triple the going rate thanks to a customer's ignorance of his own credit statement or selling readily available cars at over sticker price, making decent money in car sales involved some heavy-duty "skating" on the backs of buyers.  

But he also knew that this "professional trustworthiness" poll didn't give those good souls it polled specific enough choices.  The poll had obviously omitted the ranking of a "professional" who he knew was commonly more "contra-customer" than the Car Salesman:  the "Used Car salesman!"  

After all, it was a Used Car salesman who would pay a mere $4,000 for an immaculate, low-mileage luxury trade, insisting to its unemployed owner that her car was poorly maintained and virtually impossible to resell.  Then he'd have the car washed and waxed and turn around and sell it the next day for $22,000 -- clearing $18,000 that the lady could have potentially kept if she'd studied up and sold the car herself.  Yes, that "professional," the 'Used' Car salesman, probably, deservedly spent his theoretical afterlife in a lower "circle-of-hell" than just a mere Car Salesman.  

With the pharmacy poll still in mind in 1999, this blog writer bought the URL, Usedcarsalesman.com.  He figured he'd do something with the address to make light of the presumably low opinion people probably had of the Usedcarsalesman.  Say, make a "character" out of the Usedcarsalesman but in something that did a "180" on the stereotypes a little:  "Usedcarsalesman turns over new leaf," "Usedcarsalesman comes clean."    

Unfortunately decent "pre-fab," online-publishing software --Blogging software such as Typepad --  didn't really emerge until about 2003 and it was late 2004 before this blogger finally rolled it all together in to Usedcarsalesman.com.  

*

Anyway, today he asks and answers the question, "Why is Usedcarsalesman.com called Usedcarsalesman.com," because he's actually thinking of changing the name of this blog. 

Here's why:  When people think "Usedcarsalesman.com," they probably think "Used-Cars," not "Blog-site-with-one-fictional-usedcarsalesman's-straight-forward opinions-on-"Entertainment"-"Media&Web"-"Military Affairs"-"Miscellany-Politics"-and-"Transportation."  The blog name, Usedcarsalesman and URL, "Usedcarsalesman.com," might confuse people more than it amuses them.

I don't know.  Though it might be less fun for me, maybe I -- your favorite blogger -- should just call "Usedcarsalesman.com,"  "myname.com" instead.  What do you think?

On the other hand, President Obama has worked a great deal to aid stumbling US auto manufacturers and has lately found himself titled," Car Salesman-in-Chief " by more than a few op-ed writers in major news publications.  

In light of that, perhaps "Usedcarsalesman" may continue to serve, now as a surprisingly contemporary title for this blog.  

 

Fiat Head Makes Deal With "Comatose" Chrysler

Usedcarsalesman thinks that the recent Fiat/Chrysler deal has several different, reasonably-possible futures.  He also thinks it has an "interesting" (cough) originator in the form of Sergio Marchionne, Fiat's current CEO.

Marchionne was trained as a lawyer, MBA and chartered accountant (in Canada) and  he's also both an Italian and Canadian citizen.  When he took over Fiat in 2004 he was the 5th CEO the company had in 3 years.  His experience in the automotive business to date amounts to 4-5 years total (all with Fiat) and he has no formal engineering background.  Incidentally, in 2007, he crashed his Ferrari 599 GTB in to a Renault while driving in poor conditions in Switzerland in 2007 (Does this make him a driver [or CEO?] willing to pilot too much car [or company?] in too difficult an environment?)

Marchionne has, however, made a couple of nice deals for Fiat in the last few years:  

The first was thanks to the legal language in a contract Fiat had with GM, a contract that began prior to Marchionne taking Fiat's helm.  Essentially the contract specified that if GM did not want to buy Fiat outright after 5 years, it would have to pay Fiat 2 billion U.S. dollars (Which might have looked like decent terms to GM in 2000 when the contract began).  However, GM looked at Fiat's then current operation and the business it was doing, didn't like it and forked over 2 billion to Fiat -- on the watch of the new CEO, Marchionne -- in 2005.   

The second deal involved a 500 million U.S. dollar capital gain that occurred when Marchionne had Fiat buy  back approximately 50% of a financing arm it had sold in prior years.  The gain occurred when Marchionne's Fiat resold half of that "arm" to a French company for a 500 million U.S. profit just a short time later.      

Marchionne also decided to essentially rent use of Fiat automotive technology to other auto manufacturers --  Instant "revenue stream" (in the modern vernacular).  He also cut out a lot of fat out of Fiat's management ranks and apparently replaced some of these long-standing managers with younger folks who'd work faster and more simply (and probably for less) in exchange for more responsibility.  And he also introduced several new well-regarded vehicle models that have apparently sold well so far in Europe (However, Brazil is where Fiat sales are apparently the strongest currently).  

Marchionne's expressed master plan involves a future in which the world has 5-6 auto companies and Fiat is one of them.  

Now its March 2009.  A few weeks back Marchionne signed a deal with Cerberus Capital in NYC regarding Chrysler:  1/3 ownership of Chrysler in exchange for Fiat's various technologies for use in support of Chrysler's second 'renaissance,' etc.  Apparently Marchionne agreed to pay no or very little cash in exchange for this 1/3 ownership stake in Chrysler.  Also keep in mind that the U.S. has already bailed out Chrysler to the tune of 4 billion U.S. under Obama  

Before the U.S. Treasury Department will sign off on this arrangement between Marchionne/Fiat and Cerberus, Marchionne has to get Treasury (and thereby the current Administration) convinced the arrangement is a good move for somebody somewhere in the U.S.  

With all the aforementioned in mind, Usedcarsalesman knows you will ask:  What's going to happen?  Is Chrysler going to survive?  Is Fiat going to sell cars in the States?  Will Marchionne end up running one of the world's 5-6 surviving auto manufacturers some time after gaining an entre in to the U.S. market via Chrysler?  

Usedcarsalesman says:  Maybe, but maybe not.  

For one, Usedcarsalesman is not entirely convinced Marchionne's reason-to-be is moving cars off lots world-wide.  Yes Marchionne is apparently good at making large deals.  He's also a seemingly courageous CEO ('Used' say courageous because Marchionne probably made hundreds of Beretta Shotgun-owning enemies in Italy when he cut loose most of Fiat's old time managers), and he seems to know a balance sheet.  But Usedcarsalesman suspects he could probably do the same type of work for practically any large company, even if the company made plungers or greeting cards.

Marchione seems to like Chrysler because A) He can get 1/3 of it for no real cost to Fiat B)  The U.S. has already recently floated the cash to keep Chrysler alive and Marchionne knows -- like everybody -- that this isn't the first time the U.S. has stepped in to help Chrysler C) Chrysler's dealership network and the access to the U.S. car-buying public it may provide Fiat  (at least that's Marchionne's current refrain)

Usedcarsalesman says that if the current administration wants the 4 billion in bailout dollars back before signing off on the Fiat/Chrysler deal, then Marchionne will back out. 

However, Obama may not see any benefit to allowing Chrysler to go under.  And he indirectly may do something such as sign off on the Marchionne-led deal for 1/3 of Chrysler, but only if Marchionne/Fiat contract to terms that aid certain administration political platforms in support of greater fuel efficiency, alt-fuel use, plug-in cars/truck development and so on and so forth.

Based on Marchionne's successes on Fiat's behalf in the recent past, Marchionne may be looking at this 1/3 stake in Chrysler solely as a potential capital gain for Fiat to potentially realize in a sale to another auto manufacturer (Maybe even a rejuvenated Chrysler) in say the next .5, 1, 2, 3,5, 10 years or whenever the U.S. stock and credit markets stabilize.  

And of course, theoretically, Marchionne could take this (stadium-sized) "Ram" "by-the- horns" and "write-the-book" on how to lead a red-ink European auto manufacturer to world-class status partially by buying a distressed foreign auto manufacturer coming off two bad buyouts, arranging the design of  new cars in accordance with the "enviro"/efficiency demands of a new U.S. Presidential administration,  tossing out old-school white collar management and with them any of Fiat's institutional memory (mistakes, problems potentially repeated), making more profitable use of existing corporate assets, and successfully introducing many popular models of new cars in extremely competitive markets world-wide (the U.S. is one of those competitive markets if not the most competitive). 

Personally, Usedcarsalesman would have a lot more long-term confidence in Fiat's move on Chrysler if Marchionne already had a 20 year commitment to the auto manufacturing industry under his belt (not going on 4-5 years), if Fiat itself was already on a 20 year stretch of uninterrupted worldwide growth and profitability and if Fiat was currently perceived a bit more strongly by certain bond rating organizations -  See this recent Reuters article

Then again some argue that an executive with little auto manufacturing experience -- like Marchionne -- may be just the "reboot" that a struggling manufacturer like Chrysler needs to help head it in the right direction.