Govt Sell Shares

US Government Sells the Last Remaining General Motors Shares

Quote :

According to a report from CNBC, the US government has sold off the last of its remaining shares in General Motors. Secretary Jack Lew reports that $39 billion of the $49.5 billion investment in GM has been recovered, meaning that the investment, on paper, cost taxpayers a total of $10 billion.

GM CEO Dan Akerson said in a statement, which you can read in full down below, "We will always be grateful for the second chance extended to us and we are doing our best to make the most of it. ... Continued investments, innovation, and job creation are just some of the "returns" of a healthy GM and domestic auto industry." GM stock closed today at $40.90, which is a new record.

Source: AutoBlog

The government should have used the money to go bomb some other countries, we seem to be pretty good at that. Bombing seems to have a tremendous return on investment.

Even though I don't think we should have bailed out GM, I can see some good in that it will keep the other Big 2 more competitive. We would have been stuck with only 2 U.S. brands.

TheQuig wrote:

Even though I don't think we should have bailed out GM, I can see some good in that it will keep the other Big 2 more competitive. We would have been stuck with only 2 U.S. brands.  

Actually one since Chrysler was going down as well.
Don't forget Ford CEO was in DC pushing for GM assistance because if GM went down too much supplier base would go and drag down Ford as well. This is what is happening in Australia with Ford gone, GM talking about leaving then Toyota is going to go as well since there won't be enough volume to support the supplier base.

The institutional banks who were the source of the financial collapse, also were screwing the goose when it came to GM's bankruptcy. There was no private capital available to fund GM's C11 bankruptcy. There's ownise on GM as well they should have performed the bankruptcy possibly years before given the pressures and trends and uncompetitive areas of risk they were holding onto.

The premise of the whole thing sucks. Tax payer funds should never be used for such purposes. But this is the situation government gets into when its playing games at all levels of the economy with corruption that runs nine miles long. What we have is capitalism on steroids, not a free market economics. The companies that pat the government bureaucrats on the butt, get all the favors. Those that the government doesn't like or the government thinks it can score public political points for vote will use every opportunity demonizing a company or industry, thus the free market doesn't have a chance.

GM manufacturing in Australia is done.  Ford is gone, GM gone by 2017, Toyota not far behind.

The systemic fall out in the US would have occurred.  How much how big, hopefully we will never find out.

Want to know where the jobs are, look no further than what's in your driveway.

http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f70/its-official-holden-cease-australian-manufacturing-2017-toyota-soon-follow-144865/