$300,000 per job saved!

The Deal.com calculates that the Chrysler bailout costs American taxpayers approximately $300,000 per job saved. Even if we include all other jobs that are "touched" by Chrysler, the number comes to $80,000 per job saved, but surely, not all those jobs would be lost with the demise of Chrysler. Here is an excerpt from thedeal.com:

The relevant question is what the U.S. taxpayer is getting in return for its largess. It is hard to argue that what is left of Chrysler is pivotal to the survival of the U.S. industrial base. The automaker's U.S. operations are significantly smaller than that of either General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM) or Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F), and unlike Toyota Motor Co., Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (NYSE:HMC), Hyundai Motor Co. or others, Chrysler's manufacturing presence is shrinking and not growing.

Rather, the best way to justify the Chrysler bailout is the jobs saved, but even by that measure the plan appears expensive. Chrysler on its Web site boasts that it "touches" 100,000 jobs in the U.S., costing taxpayers $80,000 per job saved. But that number almost certainly includes dealers, suppliers, mechanics and others who are also touched by other, healthier automakers, and who may not necessarily be out of work had Chrysler failed.

Chrysler is coy on its exact number of U.S. employees, but the company according to United Auto Workers records had about 26,800 union members in the U.S., prior to the last buyout offer. Using that figure, the government is spending almost $300,000 per job saved.