So how much will the GM bailout end up costing American tax payers? Well, probably a lot. From the Washington Post: Posted on 06/30/2009 10:08:43 AM PDT by Notoriously Conservative
So how much will the GM bailout end up costing American tax payers? Well, probably a lot. From the Washington Post:
For the United States to fully recover its investment, the value of General Motors stock will have to reach levels it has never before attained....
"I don't know how much we're going to recover," a senior Obama administration official said as the company headed into bankruptcy last month.
This uncertainty stems from the difficulty in valuing the 60 percent GM stake that the United States will receive in exchange for the public investment. The government also gets preferred shares and other compensation.
The stake will be worth enough to fully cover the government's direct investment only if GM's stock rises above $68 billion. Even at its recent 2000 peak, GM's stock was worth only $56 billion.
So why is the Government doing this, if we stand to lose so much money?
In announcing the government's intention to put another $30 billion into the company earlier this month, President Obama said, "We're making these investments not because I want to spend the American people's tax dollars, but because I want to protect them."
Ah, thank you mighty Obama.
If they really want GM to be profitable they would not give it anything except FREEDOM from government regulations, labor laws, unions, environmental standards, and all the other destructive limits we impose on them. (Then we wonder why they fail to be profitable)
We shouldn’t be trying to get our money back. If we do that, then we will have to hold onto GM for too long.
The goal should be to get the government out of GM as quickly as possible. It is better to lose the money than entrench a system that allows the government to take over private businesses.
My Butt will hurt for a hundred years. Is that bad enough?
To me this is a political slam dunk for Republicans.
Joe Taxpayer is spending 10s of billions to fund $3200/month pensions and silver (formerly gold) plated benefits for 50 yr old UAW retirees.
Unfortunately nobody on our side can distract the public from the Michael Jackson circus long enough to make the point.
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