U.S. government ended up losing $10.5 billion on the General Motors bailout

[aGameOfThrones]

DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government ended up losing $10.5 billion on the General Motors bailout, but it says the alternative would have been far worse.

The Treasury Department sold its final shares of the Detroit auto giant on Monday, recovering $39 billion of the $49.5 billion it spent to save the dying automaker at the height of the financial crisis five years ago.

Without the bailout, the country would have lost more than a million jobs, and the economy could have slipped from recession into a depression, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said on a conference call with reporters.

Now, the American auto industry is back, President Barack Obama said in a statement. "Some of the most high-tech, fuel-efficient cars in the world are once again designed, engineered, and built right here in America — and the rest of the world is buying more of them than ever before," he said.

The government received 912 million GM shares, or a 60.8 percent stake, in exchange for the bailout in 2008 and 2009. It began selling shares once GM went public again in November of 2010, and the pace picked up this year as the stock rose more than 40 percent. Last month, the government said it expected to sell its remaining 2 percent stake by the end of the year

http://news.yahoo.com/government-sells-remaining-stake-gm-213858517--finance.html

[acptulsa]

Now, the American auto industry is back, President Barack Obama said in a statement. "Some of the most high-tech, fuel-efficient cars in the world are once again designed, engineered, and built right here in America — and the rest of the world is buying more of them than ever before," he said.

Yeah, by Ford and Chrysler and from Ford and Chrysler. So why did we bail out GM again..?

We could have done the automakers more good and saved the government money by disbanding the NHTSA. And new car prices would have dropped, too.

[angelatc]

A million jobs, at a final cost of $10 billion .... such a bargain!

[PRB]

A million jobs, at a final cost of $10 billion .... such a bargain!

it only costs $10,000 per job? Yeah, that is a bargain.

How exactly was the alternative worse? Cheaper cars for everybody?

[jllundqu]

it only costs $10,000 per job? Yeah, that is a bargain.

How exactly was the alternative worse? Cheaper cars for everybody?

This is joke, yes??

A structured bankruptcy forcing bloated unions to go pound sand would have saved the company, and yes, lowered prices.

[phill4paul]

Now wait a damned minute. Weren't we told that we had been paid back and the bail-out was a resounding success in government intervention? I could have sworn I read MSM articles praising it?

[Carson]

This counterfeiting to save Paul is what got the auto industry and ALL other industries in the strapped out fix they are in.

So while they praise the saving of the auto industry at only a $10,000,000,000.00 loss or so, what about what went down with all of the Peter's businesses around the nation? Will we have anyone look into it?

This is all just nuts.

A whole planet full of great businesses sucked dry by the vampires. Businesses that stood the test of time, scream Uncle!

No one seems to hear.

[Carson]

Now wait a damned minute. Weren't we told that we had been paid back and the bail-out was a resounding success in government intervention? I could have sworn I read MSM articles praising it?

I think this is one of those their economy and our economy points of perspective.

I seem to have to apply it often to understand where some of this stuff is coming from.

[Keith and stuff]

Yeah, by Ford and Chrysler and from Ford and Chrysler. So why did we bail out GM again..?

We could have done the automakers more good and saved the government money by disbanding the NHTSA. And new car prices would have dropped, too.

Chrysler was bailed out at the same time Government Motors was bailed out. It's just not in the news as much because it is a foreign company with a much smaller print in the US. Ford and GM are the only 2 US automobile companies of any notable size.

[acptulsa]

Chrysler was bailed out at the same time Government Motors was bailed out. It's just not in the news as much because it is a foreign company with a much smaller print in the US. Ford and GM are the only 2 US automobile companies of any notable size.

It was an American company when it was bailed out. Obama used that as an excuse to force the Fiat merger personally.

And Chrysler is not as small as you make it out to be. You make it sound like Tesla...

[juleswin]

A million jobs, at a final cost of $10 billion .... such a bargain!


And how soon before the come scurrying back to daddy government asking for more bailout. Personally I believe more jobs would have been saved had we allowed GM to fail. Just imagine the kind of increase business that would have given to the other car makers. They would have had to buy new factories, hire new workers to meet the demand for the new customers.

They didn't save anything, they just rearranged the money, buying off special interests in the process.

[Keith and stuff]

It was an American company when it was bailed out. Obama used that as an excuse to force the Fiat merger personally.

And Chrysler is not as small as you make it out to be. You make it sound like Tesla...

Fair enough. I'm not a fan of Chrysler. And truthfully, a German company bought it in 1998. About 10 years later, it became an Italian company. Between then, it was an American, Canadian and Italian company.

[Keith and stuff]

it only costs $10,000 per job? Yeah, that is a bargain.

How exactly was the alternative worse? Cheaper cars for everybody?
It is only $10,500 per job. Don't forget, the US government also lost money bailing out the foreign auto company, Chrysler.

[alucard13mm]

I dont get it.. if a company is doing bad, meaning it provides services or products that no one wants.. it should close. When it closes, I'd assume there will be other brands and companies that will take over.

Shit, they want GM to last forever?

[acptulsa]

It is only $10,500 per job. Don't forget, the US government also lost money bailing out the foreign auto company, Chrysler.

SOMEbody made money on that deal. I guarantee Obama didn't force them into bed with Fiat for free...

[Root]

And how soon before the come scurrying back to daddy government asking for more bailout. Personally I believe more jobs would have been saved had we allowed GM to fail. Just imagine the kind of increase business that would have given to the other car makers. They would have had to buy new factories, hire new workers to meet the demand for the new customers.

They didn't save anything, they just rearranged the money, buying off special interests in the process.
Exactly. Consumer demand for new cars hasn't gone down, so the plants and production equipment could have been sold to other companies. Other companies would have then hired the best of the laid off workers.

[PRB]

Now wait a damned minute. Weren't we told that we had been paid back and the bail-out was a resounding success in government intervention? I could have sworn I read MSM articles praising it?

they paid back the portion which were loans, not the bailout parts
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2011/may/26/are-auto-companies-paid-up-american-taxpayers/

[PRB]

Exactly. Consumer demand for new cars hasn't gone down, so the plants and production equipment could have been sold to other companies. Other companies would have then hired the best of the laid off workers.

actually it has, or will if car loans start dropping.

[PRB]

I dont get it.. if a company is doing bad, meaning it provides services or products that no one wants.. it should close. When it closes, I'd assume there will be other brands and companies that will take over.

Shit, they want GM to last forever?

yes, because if you don't want GM to last forever, you hate their workers. at least that's what I keep hearing, how dare we put people out of jobs just because they're making something people don't buy anymore.

[PRB]

This is joke, yes??



No, it's actually not a joke.

If it cost only $10,000 to save a job, and it was either necessary or sufficient, it's a bargain. They'd have likely gotten $10,000 in unemployment benefits over a year or 2 anyway. So without details, it's hard to tell.

[acptulsa]

No, it's actually not a joke.

If it cost only $10,000 to save a job, and it was either necessary or sufficient, it's a bargain. They'd have likely gotten $10,000 in unemployment benefits over a year or 2 anyway. So without details, it's hard to tell.

The only General Motors employees who could not get another job in a proper free market are the ones stupid enough to insist the company, which has resources enough to design and build automobiles, design and build Buicks instead.

And those are the ones making enough in one year to retire on.

Why did we protect their jobs again?