Chrysler files to seek bankruptcy protection

President Obama forced Chrysler into federal bankruptcy protection on Thursday so it could pursue a lifesaving alliance with the Italian automaker Fiat, in yet another extraordinary intervention into private industry by the federal government.

Flanked by his automobile task force of cabinet secretaries and business advisers in the White House’s grand entranceway, Obama announced a plan that would allow the United Automobile Workers, through their retirement plan, to take control of Chrysler, with Fiat and the United States as junior partners. The government would lend about $8 billion more to the company, on top of the $4 billion it had already provided, according to an April 30 article in The New York Times.

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