Posted on 08/02/2010 9:07:10 AM PDT by Nachum
Who could have imagined that the bailout of the auto industry, one of the single most unpopular moves by the Obama administration, would become one of its best talking points?
But don't for an instant imagine that the comeback of the nation's rescued car companies, particularly General Motors, will change the way we debate government's role in the economy. When it comes to almost anything the government does, ideology trumps facts, slogans trump reality, and loaded words ("socialism") trump data.
Let there be no mistake: Rescuing GM and Chrysler took political courage, and I want to put in a good word not only for President Obama but also for George W. Bush.
True, Bush's electoral career was over in December 2008 when he extended $17.4 billion of Troubled Assets Relief Program money to keep the companies alive long enough to give Obama a chance to act. Still, it took guts for Bush to decide not to "leave the next president to confront the demise of a major American industry in his first days of office." Yet it was Obama who put in the bulk of the cash -- in all, Bush's input had grown to $25 billion before he left office, while Obama put up an additional $60 billion -- and created the tough restructuring plan.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
they were given billions, there was incentives to buy cars.
Of course the far left media will say it worked they are and have been so busy supporting this man in office that they have no clue what the average guy or gal thinks about any of this any more.
Is Amtrack a success too .
Yeah sure..
Dionne does not have the first clue as to what went on with GM and Chrysler. We will see in a few years what the results are.
“auto industry lives”- Like 10+% unemployment, this is a new standard. We celebrate that a company “lives” given enough subsidy. We no longer seek to “thrive” in a free market economy.
I used to have a GM and a Ford. Now I have two Fords. Did it work? No.
Yeah riiiiiight! The secured creditors got screwed, GM & Chrysler owe the taxpayers billions that we'll never see, and the taxpayer is on the hook for some $18 billion in pension funds for GM. And now GM unloads a dog called the Volt that only gets 40 miles per charge with a $8000 tax credit that the taxpayer is on the hook for.
That, or maybe the the moniker, ‘E.J. Dionne’ is sufficient barf alert in and of itself. ;)
their messiah and cult leader goes to MI and now the bias corrupt media who has not done their job in years will say the billions given worked.
Really , well maybe this corrupt bias media should maybe see the profits and billions paid back before they go cheer leading for him again.
Just in case you bias corrupt media types are trolling here then get this into your cult like minded heads.
You have been a disgrace to your profession, you are an embarrassment and yet you wonder why your viewers and sales are down.
It is this kind of bias crap and shoddy work amateur piece which shows how pathetic your reporting has become. GET A GRIP OF YOURSELVES
The author of this article E.J. whatever has no clue how business works. The bailout only bailed out the unions.
If it protected the bond holders and the stock holders THEN it might have been a success.
The volt is just proof of failure.
how many new cars have just been bought by this far left socialist radical Govt when they didn’t really need to but did to try and make GM look like they are selliing?
Government Motors will never pay back Treasury.
In fact, it is having difficulty turning a profit despite writing off massive amounts of debt (greatly reducing interest expense), massive amounts of assets (greatly reducing depreciation expense), vast amounts of intangibles (greatly reducing amortization expense), vast amounts of employee pensions and benefits costs (greatly reducing labor expense), and shutting down money losing brands, product lines and factories (greatly reducing operating expenses).
The company is now driven by politics - e.g. closing profitable white dealerships and building green cars.
GM is a dog that needs to be auctioned to the highest bidder - who in all likelihood will sell most of the company's remaining assets for scrap.
Dionne is a statist hack.
.
The lamestream media purposely distorts the numbers. $60 billion to GM, $7 billion paid back. $15 billion to GMAC, zero paid back. $12 billion to Chrysler, $2 billion paid back. Bond and stock holders got raped for more billions, but the unions were saved. The taxpayers and investors will never see their money back if Government Motors is depending on the 0zer0 Volt to save them.
If GM and Chrysler had filed Chapter 11 they would still be operating under Chapter 11. The difference is they would be owned by the bondholders instead of the Government and the Unions. The Unions of course would have had to take substantial cuts in Wages and benefits as part of the deal to keep operating in Chapter 11 but now they get to keep their wages and benefits ( aren't we taxpayers lucky to have subsidized such a wonderful group of people) and they own most of the company !
All part of spreading the wealth ... to Obama's supporters.
That’s like claiming that the fact that several hundred million people emerged alive from the end of the communist era in the USSR and eastern Europe are proof that communism “works”. Yeah, but compared to what?
The real test will be down the road.
Just wait when cities and states start settling their municipal bonds in the same fashion in order to pay for pensions.
GM and Chrysler are just walking dead. When they have more layoffs their won't be enough Democrat voters left to justify another bailout.
“Well, ther’ ain’t no sense in it. A body might stump his toe, and take pison, and fall down the well, and break his neck, and bust his brains out, and somebody come along and ask what killed him, and some numskull up and say, ‘Why, he stumped his toe.’ Would ther’ be any sense in that? No. And ther’ ain’t no sense in this, nuther.” -
Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
EJ Dionne seems to be using the same tortured definition of ‘success’ as Twain’s characters do in identifying a cause of death. If you ignore all that has gone before and doggedly portray the outcome as a thriving industry when it is anything but then logic has completely gone out the window.
Which one is still running on government handouts? Which one took a TARP load and paid it back with another TARP loan?
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