GMAC's chairman, bilked by Madoff, wants to run a bank (to get a bailout)

chron.com ^ | December 24, 2008 | Loren Steffy

[dennisw]

GMAC's chairman, bilked by Madoff, wants to run a bank

GMAC, the auto financing arm of General Motors that's half owned by Cerberus Capital, is spooling up its own bid for a federal bailout. GMAC wants to mimic American Express, Goldman Sachs and others that converted to bank holding companies and then tapped the TARP.

Meanwhile, GMAC's chairman, Jacob Ezra Merkin, runs Ascot Partners, an investment firm that lost most of its $1.8 billion in assets in the Madoff scandal, according to the New York Times.

So, sure, let's give billions in federal funds to a guy who blows almost $2 billion of his and his clients' money on a Ponzi scheme.

GMAC got to the point of begging the government for cash because it was a major peddler of subprime mortgages, many of them through its DiTech division. Now, to borrow from DiTech's annoying marketing slogan, it may be taxpayers who will lose another loan to DiTech.

Technorati Tags: GMAC,bailout,Bernard Madoff,financial crisis,banking and finance,economy,business

[Venturer]

Our local Chevy dealer just went belly up. Business had not been good for months and then along comes GMAC and insists that they deposit half a million bucks in an escrow account.

They could see the hand writing on the wall and decided to get out before they threw more money after bad.

I guess the dealer bailout wasnt enough.

[GOPJ]

Meanwhile, GMAC's chairman, Jacob Ezra Merkin, runs Ascot Partners, an investment firm that lost most of its $1.8 billion in assets in the Madoff scandal, according to the New York Times.

Is greed that powerful - so powerful it makes smart men stupid?

[Hildy]

I'll say it one more time...WHEN MONEY BECOMES GOD TO MEN, AND THE OBTAINING OF IT THE GOAL IN LIFE, THEN THE ENDS ALWAYS JUSTIFY THE MEANS....

So the short answer to your question is...YES.

[apocalypto]

Also, Madoff’s victims include the world’s richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt.

[dennisw]

Also, Madoff’s victims include the world’s richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt.
_________________

L’Oreal I think..... The little guy feels better seeing how all these rich people got suckered

[Grampa Dave]

We have 5 Ford dealerships, 4 GMAC dealerships, 5 Chevy, 3 Buick, and 3 Chrysler dealerships in a less than 20 mile radius of us with a total population of about 300,000.

Our younger son heard that one of the Ford Dealerships will probably be closing at the end of the year.

A friend has a son who is graduating in January from college and has a job. They looked locally for a new car or pickup. Most of the dealers still had Dealer Markups and other bs add ons to increase the price. They are buying a pickup via AAA’s plan to avoid the bs and games still being played.