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Taxpayers Unlikely to Recoup Billions Sunk Into GM and Chrysler

Meanwhile, Ford is profitable. 

ABC’s Matt Jaffe reports from Washington:

On the same day that Ford—the one member of Detroit’s Big Three that did not receive a taxpayer bailout—reported a quarterly profit of nearly $1 billion, a government watchdog warned that taxpayers are unlikely to recoup all of the $81 billion the Treasury Department has invested in General Motors and Chrysler.

In a new report released Monday afternoon, the Government Accountability Office stated, “Treasury is unlikely to recover the entirety of its investment in Chrysler or GM, given that the companies’ values would have to grow substantially above what they have been in the past.”

Since December 2008, Treasury has invested $81.1 billion in the two automakers, more than 12 percent of the total funds available from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The government now has a 60 percent equity stake in the new GM and a 9.85 percent stake in the new Chrysler.

At the present time, the GAO noted, “The companies still struggle to remain competitive with other automakers and to regain market share.”

Posted by Owen at 2045 hrs
Economy + Politics + Politics - General

1. The poster child as to why govt should not be involved in running businesses.

   $81 billion down the drain. How long will it take to pay that off - with interest?

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 02, 2009 at 2240 hrs
   
   
   

2. This is the greatest coup yet for those of us who jeered the notion of these bailouts against those who defended them and this administration. The blows against the tactics of this administration just keep coming, how much longer can anyone continue to believe this is how we should be doing things.

   If we would have let the companies file for bankruptcy and be gobbled up by investment firms they would be emerging now and putting out viable products. Instead we now have $80 + billion dollars in public interest and a petulant child in the drivers seat who kicks and screams whenever something doesn’t go his way.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 03, 2009 at 0630 hrs
   
   
   

3. Oh, by the way:  Geithner flushed ALL of the taxpayers’ “investment” in CIT down the porcelain tubes.

   NO chance of recovery, as Geithner took last position, unsecured.

   Posted by dad29 on November 03, 2009 at 0802 hrs
   
   
   

4. Weren’t we told by the democrat popularity contest winners that all that money was just a loan and it would be paid back?

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 03, 2009 at 1032 hrs
   
   
   

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