Declaring bankruptcy will open a lot of options for Chrysler. I'm sure they will cut back hard on expenses. They will probably sell or jettison unprofitable brands, cut back on staff, salaries, benefits, and (possibly) pensions.

With the government breathing down their neck, my guess is that they will be under severe pressure to justify all the money we gave them, and this will give them the impetus they need to streamline their business.

Detroit got extremely bloated over the decades, and this is partly what caused their failures over the past years. Japan once again beat them hard, and now they're (slowly) learning from those failures. I'm guessing they will come out with new models and be able to compete better in the coming years.

Also, with the likely economic rebound, I think they will be better able to return to profitability.

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