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The man responsible for keeping Chrysler out of bankruptcy in the 1980s, Lee Iacocca, is giving Chrysler and General Motors one advice: Get the government out of your business as soon as possible. Iacocca, who used $1 billion in government loans in the 1980s to save Chrysler, told The Associated Press that government intervention in his goal for the automaker was a strong motivation to repay the loan early.

“They’re on you day and night. Their oversight is just too extreme,” said Iacocca. “That’s why our 10-year loan, we paid it back in three years. We couldn’t stand the government. The bureaucracy kills you.”

Chrysler came out of bankruptcy in 42 days while GM remains in Chapter 11.

84-year old Iacocca seems appalled that the government is one again involved in loaning money to Chrysler, but understands that Chrysler and GM’s collapse would have caused nation wide unemployment.

Iacocca said that he would invest in Chrysler as well as Ford, but was a bit reluctant when it came to GM.

“GM’s got more serious problems,” he said. “They’re just big. They’re huge. They’ve got many more problems than Chrysler has with just sheer size.”

Iacocca was fired by Henry Ford II in 1978 from FoMoCo and later took over Chryslers.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: MSNBC

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