More good news out of Detroit today: Chrysler announced it has repaid $5.9 billion in federal loans, including fees and interest payments, six years ahead of schedule.

Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne told the Detroit Free Press:

The loans gave us a rare second chance to demonstrate what the people of this company can deliver, and we owe a debt of gratitude to those whose intervention allowed Chrysler Group to re-establish itself as a strong and viable carmaker.

We also know that the auto industry has added 115,000 jobs since GM and Chrysler came out of bankruptcy-the fastest rate of job growth since the 1990s.

While the auto industry continues to recover, all the good news this month is a welcome sign that the administration's decision to provide these loans-politically unpopular at the time-is paying off.