If, at the time, we were talking about the balance sheet at GM or AT&T, I'd agree with you. The guarantee would've constrained corporate finances...just a little bit.
But we're talking about the federal government's balance sheet here. If the procedure cost any individual taxpayer as much as a penny, I'd be shocked.
Understanding that neither of us can prove it, one way or the other.
It’s more than the immediate overhang of Chrysler debt; it’s the preception by the markets that the government was changing it’s behavour.
There is also the burden on Ford and to a lesser extent of all other business borrowers as a result of the way that the administration shafted GM and Chrysler’s senior creditors.