Catherwood LibraryILR School

A report by the special inspector general for the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) says that accelerating the closing of GM and Chrysler dealerships may have caused needless unemployment. The report says that the government should have considered whether fast closing of dealerships was more important than the loss of thousands of jobs. A spokesman for the Treasury Department said that they disagree with the conclusions of the report. Some politicians have spoken out about the dealership closings, and the effects of allowing the government to interfere with private business. The report found that Chrysler followed the criteria for terminating dealerships, but that GM's methods of targeting dealerships were inconsistent, and that dealerships that should have been closed were not. President Obama signed a law that requires the companies to offer arbitration regarding the closings. As a result GM says that it will reinstate 661 dealerships, and Chrysler said that it has a total of 50 dealers that will be reinstated.