Remember how we were told that the GM bailout would be paid back to the taxpayer?
Well, we just took a ten-billion-dollar bath. As noted there, we’ll never know what useful things might have been done with that ten billion.
5 thoughts on “Government Motors”
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Of course, it would be nice to get our money back, but the real objection back then was that the government was taking sides in a bankruptcy, protecting the union workers’ pensions and stuff and giving bond-holders pretty much nothing. It would have been immoral even if it had cost nothing. A bankruptcy court may have allowed the companies to continue operating as well, but would have tried to avoid cheating anyone.
Of course, it probably won the Midwest for the president in 2012, so that’s good at least…
“We’re going to punish our enemies, and we are going to reward our friends” President Barack Obama 2010.
I’m pretty sure it was way more than $10B. $10B was the direct loss on the stock sale.
Event timeline:
1) Government buys 60% of GM
2) People go ballistic, start preparing for war
3) Government say, oh, sorry, my mistake – lends around $60B to GM to buy back the stock at a loss
4) People are placated for some reason
5) Government “forgives” the debt
As I understand it, the taxpayers are out about $70B on the transaction, not $10B.
I think GM paid back most of the loans but there were other breaks that they got other than loans.
At least GM didn’t go bankrupt. Oh what’s that? They did go bankrupt? So Obama lied again?