I cannot buy your logic.
Where do you get the number of 15 billion coming back in tax money from union labor? AND even if it did, it still did not justify ripping off the bondholders when the restructuring deal was made. That is why the stock cannot ever come completely back. Who in their right mind would ever buy GM stock, knowing that the moment things go sour the investment would be confiscated by the government and then given to the unions?
Then, there is cost to our country of letting the union control public policy at the highest levels. The big union bosses were/are regular visitors to the White House. How much will THAT cost us in the end?
Also, why not factor in all the dealerships that were forced to close out of political partisanship. Why not factor in the factories that were moved/built in China and Mexico with these tax dollars? What about the jobs lost in these two events alone? At least 2 Billion was spent on foreign factories. Where is the tax revenue in that?
Sorry, these was a scam from the get go. Devil in the details indeed.
Last time I checked Union labor still paid income taxes. If my guestimate of $82 billion in labor costs is correct with a 20% tax rate = $16 billion. with a 15% tax rate = $12 billion.
The rest of your points are all valid.
My point was that if you save American jobs, some of those funds flow back to the government as Tax revenues, offsetting the cost of the bailout.
But to the extent that the funds were used to ship jobs overseas, or pay outlandish bonuses to political cronies, or install cronies on the board of GM, etc, etc, then it's a bad deal.
We shouldn't automatically be against bailouts during economic crises. But we need trustworthy stewards in office who will act in the best interest of the nation, and not take the money and run.