In a highly critical new audit, the top stimulus watchdog says the Obama administration decision to shutter thousands of Chrysler and GM dealerships across the country was “[n]either necessary for the sake of the companies’ economic survival [n]or prudent for the sake of the nation’s economic recovery.”

Neil Barofsky, inspector general of TARP, said that the move to close the dealerships “may have substantially contributed to the accelerated shuttering of thousands of small businesses,” thereby “adding tens of thousands of workers to the already lengthy unemployment rolls — all based on a theory and without sufficient consideration of the decisions’ broader economic impact.”

More here.