Government Motors No More - Was It Worth A $9 Billion Of Your Taxpayer Money?

Four years after the US government saved General Motors from certain financial death thanks to a $49.5 billion federal bailout, the US Treasury has just sold off its remaining GM holdings. The brand is officially no longer "Government Motors." The decision to save GM as well as Chrysler will forever remain controversial, but certain facts cannot be denied: the bailout saved at least 1.2 million US jobs and prevented the collapse of the vast US auto parts supplier network.

If the latter had fallen, Ford, which didn’t require bailout cash, would have also found itself in serious trouble. However, the final sale of GM stock by the US government came with a price: a $9 billion taxpayer loss. In light of the government’s sale, GM stock has been surging in recent days. GM’s North American President, Mark Reuss defended the bailout, stating that "There are 10s of 1,000s of people who can now put food on the table. How can you put a price on that?" An independent study also found that the bailout preserved $39.4 billion in personal and social insurance tax collections in 2009 and 2010.

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MorePower - 12/11/2013 6:29:12 PM

+1 Boost

For the 100,000s of American jobs it saved and detouring, if temporarily, the catalyst that would have sent the US economy into potentially the longest and deepest depression, YES

To save a company from its own hubris and decades of mismanagement, poor design and to reward them for holding the nation at gunpoint for their short-sided ambitions and greed, NO

MattDarringer - 12/12/2013 8:56:59 AM

0 Boost

GM has not fully learned its lesson. GM Korea has given it some good models: Cruse, Sonic, and Spark, but the equivalent Opels are different platforms. Now factor in that GM decided to prop up Peugeot and Citroen's money pit and they clearly have not learned. GM USA is fairly ok, but signs of idiocy remain. The SS is expensive and bland when it could have been a very profitable niche vehicle instead of the Pontiac G8-II. The Malibu is a disaster even in the hasty reworking they did. GMC and Chevy trucks still overlap.

I'm OK with saving a company IF the company is bull whipped into jettisoning all of the moronic moves that put it in jeopardy in the first place.

Meanwhile, one of their most crucial products Traverse/Acadia/Enclave is getting OLD and the replacement is nowhere in sight. The "all new" pickups are really the old pickups with mild improvements. Where is the real hybridization that we should be seeing? "E assist?" Laughable.

Even Chrysler under Marchionne's constant changes of brand direction and glitches has a better chance of remaining viable, whereas I can see GM heading back to bankruptcy.

mrcassis - 12/12/2013 11:19:21 AM

+2 Boost

Ok conservatives/regressives/teanuts. Its OUR time again!!! Lets turn off Fox News, put down The Washington Times for a second, lets all hold hands and start our Autospies monthly ritual. 1......2.......3..LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLets get ready to bash Obamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LexSucks - 12/12/2013 5:30:40 PM

+1 Boost

They are idiots. And shouldn't we all be living out of refrigerator boxes by now? The conservative predicted the end of times if Obama were elected. Well he's been elected and reelected and its actually getting better. That maked the conservatives here look like fools.

LexSucks - 12/12/2013 5:27:51 PM

+4 Boost

And Agent 009 wonders why this place is dead comments wise, while places like Autoblog.com gets tons of replies on every article. It's crap like this 009. The M4 article here has zero comments. Lol!

No one cares about how much you hate Obama. Oh yeah... Unemployment is at 7% and the Dow is at 15,000. Those are numbers that if Bush had when he left, you would be calling him the best president ever. Stop being a Koch brothers shill.

clams - 12/16/2013 9:55:43 AM

+2 Boost

...and yet Bush had reached BOTH of those numbers when he was president you dumbass.