The President talks this week about the rebound in the domestic auto industry, with some good news coming out of both General Motors and Chrysler. G.M. paid back both U.S. and Canadian Government loans five years ahead of schedule, an amount totaling over $8 billion. There was quite a debate over the government aid given to the automakers, and Obama (and Bush) have been pilloried for this intervention. Doesn’t look like such a bad decision now, does it? Read the Washington Post story on the G.M. payback here.
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Bill Manzi.com 
Nice try, your honor, but now you are participating in propaganda. GM paid back the cash load and is still is billions in hock for government owned stock.
Anytime the government bails out anyone it’s bad news. Oh, and just in case you forgot, that money belongs to your constituents. The government is broke.
Jules
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Your Honor,
From the editorial pages of the Washington Times…this excerpt….
Despite misleadingly rosy propaganda fed to the press, the sad saga of General Motors’ transformation into Government Motors continues. As a ward of the state, GM has to do the bidding of its Washington masters and stay in lock step with the Democrats’ claims about the company’s condition. The truth is that GM’s condition remains poor.
The only reason the company has been able to pay off its government loan is because the Obama administration has given GM more money than it has been able to spend. Hence, proceeds from one loan are sitting around to be used to pay down another loan. That’s hardly evidence that GM has been a good investment. To the contrary, the shell game makes clear that the Obama administration is wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on a carmaker that is careening toward a cliff.
Hmmmm. More lies???
Check it out for yourself.
Jules
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Jules,
As you know I was lukewarm to the auto bailout, but in the end I did not feel that you could allow an entire American industry to be vaporized and all of those jobs lost. As to your point on the money paid back and the money still outstanding I would disagree with you. The Government gave loans, which were paid back. They also took an equity position in GM and Chrysler. As far as GM goes it appears that the government ownership position will be retired through the sale of equity to the public through a stock offering. I do agree with you that the domestic auto industry remains fragile, and the final chapter on the government intervention has yet to be written. But it certainly looks better than it did a year ago.
Bill
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Your Honor,
I am talking about being up front with the public. This was propaganda to give the mistaken impression that GM was no longer in debt to the government.
They are still in debt.
Jules
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