With the announcement today that Chrysler will repay its $7.5 billion bailout loan it received from the U.S. government, the auto bailout has reached another milestone.

To get out of its credit fix, Chrysler has lined up loans of $4.3 billion and will issue $3.2 billion in bonds. Italy’s Fiat, which controls Chrysler, will kick in $1.3 billion and get 46% ownership.

Private money has stepped up, thus validating the approach taken by the Obama administration. It’s also a significant victory for all the employees at Chrysler who worked through this difficult period and came out with new versions of vehicles like the Dodge Charger pictured above and the new Chrysler 200.

Donald Trump has put his brand on all sorts of products as he leverages his success over the years in real estate along with the his status as a reality TV celebrity. Yet he turned many people off with his bizarre and mean-spirited attacks on President Obama. He questioned Obama’s birth certificate, and then moved on to questioning Obama’s qualifications to get into Harvard Law School.

Basically, he came across as a jerk. Then, Obama smacked him down by releasing his birth certificate, mocking Trump in front of the Washington press corps and then interrupting “Celebrity Apprentice” with the news that Navy SEALS had killed Osama bin Laden.

Meanwhile, the press has started to dig into Trump’s business dealings, shining a light on some of Trump’s less impressive ventures. Trump is getting sued by some who purchased condos thinking they were Trump projects, only to find later when the project folded that Trump was just licensing his name.

These stories are now all over the media. So it begs the question – did Trump screw up with his high-profile, mean-spirited attacks on the President? Is this going to hurt his brand? I always thought he was a clown, but he didn’t bother me. Now, I have no interest in supporting anything he’s associated with. Others I’ve spoken to feel the same way.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out . . .

Things keep getting worse in the housing market as foreclosures glut the market and depress prices. It’s so bad that some are calling it a double-dip recession in the housing market.

If the numbers showing housing prices slumming it around their spring 2009 lows aren’t troubling enough, then the surrounding context certainly is. The federal government spent trillions of dollars lifting housing — the recession’s great instigator — out of its trough. And now that home prices have collapsed again, the feds have far fewer tools available to prop them up again.

This does not bode well for the entire economy, but it just shows how long it’s going to take to work through all the excesses of the mortgage bubble. In Las Vegas, the foreclosures are now spreading to upscale homes as well, giving high rollers the opportunity to come in and scoop up real estate gems on the cheap.

Fortunately, there is one silver lining, as young people now actually have hope of getting an affordable home if they have decent income. With all the bad news out there for young people in the job market, at least there’s some good news. Unfortunately, many people are paying the price for the excesses of the past decade.

The Chamber of Commerce supported Republicans in 2010 with a ton of financial support, assuming that the GOP would be pro-business. Instead, the House Republicans and most Republican Senators are more than happy to hold the American economy hostage to their ideological demands.

The Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to Congress on Friday urging legislators to quickly raise the debt ceiling, while also warning of catastrophe should the government continue spending at its current rate.

The Chamber, which represents business interests, helped elect many of the Republican members of Congress who are now threatening to vote against raising the debt ceiling. Republicans are demanding major cuts to government spending and long-term programs in return for their support.

The Chamber understands the consequences of messing around with the full faith and credit of the United States, while the Tea Party crowd seems happy to let the whole system collapse just to make a point. Remember the TARP vote and how many Republicans were willing to let all the banks collapse? Nobody should be surprised.

The U.S. auto business continues its spectacular rebound from its near-death experience. Sure, there’s a long way to go, but this is excellent news and shows a commitment to invest in America.

Growing demand for General Motors Co. cars and trucks is pushing the Detroit automaker to add thousands of jobs and spend $2 billion to upgrade plants across the country.

GM CEO Daniel Akerson confirmed Tuesday that the company will create or preserve more than 4,000 jobs in eight states by investing heavily in 17 facilities nationwide. So far, the company has only announced millions of dollars in upgrades at plants in Toledo and Bowling Green, Ky. It is expected to release specifics about other plants during the next few months.

While much of the planned spending hinges on winning state and local tax incentives, the company says it needs to boost production and resume hiring to meet rising consumer demand.

The U.S. economy and job market needs a boost like this. Hopefully this will continue.

The NCAA recently made moves to lock in rights for its “March Madness” trademark.

Quietly last October, the association paid $17.2 million to sports and entertainment marketer Intersport to stop using the term “March Madness,” which has been attached to the NCAA’s Division I men’s basketball tournament since the 1980s.

The settlement, spelled out in financial statements but unbeknown to most in the member schools and conferences, gives it sole ownership of a trademark that has been the subject of several legal disputes and challenges over the years. While large on its face, the eight-figure amount accounts for less than 2½% of the association’s $700 million-plus budget.

It’s another story about the business of college sports, coming at a time when we’re seeing scandal after scandal, mostly revolving around improper benefits like tattoos for memorabilia.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department is asking why there isn’t a playoff system in college football.

The entire issue of money and college athletics will be front and center for the foreseeable future.

The domestic auto industry is doing very well, and that’s reflected in the news coming from AutoNation:

AutoNation Inc. (NYSE: AN – News) announced that its board of directors has authorized the repurchase of up to an additional $250 million of common stock under its existing share buyback program. This has increased the total authorized amount under the program to $395.9 million.

Last year, the automotive retailer had increased the authorization amount during May and July by $250 million each. In the first quarter of 2011, the company repurchased 1.8 million shares at an aggregate price of $58.8 million, reflecting an average price of $32.60.

During the quarter, AutoNation reported a rise in profit to $70.3 million or 46 cents per share from $58.8 million or 34 cents in the year-ago period driven by strong new and used vehicle sales. The profit exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3 cents per share.

This is excellent news for the economy, and hopefully we’ll see gas prices start to decrease, giving Americans more disposable income.

They started out as child actors, and then moved on to becoming cash cows in the tween market with their DVDs. Now the Olsen twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley (left above), are becoming fashion moguls.

Newsweek has a story on their high-end fashion label, The Row, and their incredible rise as a power in the fashion world.

Even more interesting is the fact that they have become advocates of American manufacturing:

The Olsens, who will be 25 in June, did not go to fashion or art school. They have built a considerable reputation by obsessing over darts (they hate them), gamely absorbing the blows of skeptical retailers, and keeping their celebrity mostly under wraps. They also have become champions in a longstanding effort to save this country’s garment factories. In 1965, factories in America produced 95 percent of the clothes sold in this country, according to savethegarmentcenter.org. Today, only 5 percent of the clothes sold here are produced locally. The future of New York’s garment center is no longer in mass production, activists argue, but rather in small-scale, high-end manufacturing that relies on skilled artisans.

“The whole point is reinvention—not what it was, but what it can be,” says designer Yeohlee Teng, who has been a leader in the effort.

The Olsens have taken up this blue-collar cause by producing their collection in factories in New York and, to a lesser degree, Los Angeles. (Their handbags are produced in Italy, as are a few of their superfine knits.)

“I really believe in our being able to create here and utilize the skills that people have here,” says Ashley. “The skill set is here. Our main issue is that some of the machinery is gone, so some knitwear is produced in Italy. But whether it’s clothing or cars, I believe in manufacturing as close to home as possible.”

It will be interesting to see if this sparks a trend in the U.S. garment industry.