Poor Richard's News

Welfare…not just for poor Democrat voters but also for giant corporations filled with Democrat donors! Yep, The Obama administration is finally planning to exit its corporate bailout of GM, and the taxpayers are on the hook for $10 billion. And what do we have to show for it?  Well, not much.

from Reuters:

The U.S. Treasury Department said it expected to sell its remaining shares of General Motors Co by the end of the year, a plan that may leave taxpayers with a shortfall of about $10 billion on the automaker’s 2009 bailout.

Treasury on Thursday said it had completed the sale of 70.2 million shares of GM stock and to date had recouped $38.4 billion from the $49.5 billion taxpayer-funded rescue of the Detroit company.

At current prices, Treasury would recoup another $1.2 billion from its remaining stake of 31.1 million shares, bringing its total recovery to $39.6 billion. Treasury said its initial cost basis for the GM shares was $43.52 per share.

Treasury previously said it expected to exit by April 2014, but analysts had expected it to move up the final sale date.

“Our goal was never to make a profit,” said a Treasury official who requested anonymity. “It was to save the U.S. auto industry.”

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Did the bailout really “save the auto industry”?  No, of course not.  Ford Motor Co. decided there were too many strings attached to the bailout and went without. Today, Ford is doing just fine while Chrysler and GM continue to struggle along. When is America going to learn that we have to let people (and giant corporations) fail.  The losers will fade into obscurity, and the winners will grow and grow the economy with them.