Thursday, July 21, 2011

Paid in...bull.



Remember when President Barack Obama visited a Chrysler plant in Toledo, Ohio, on June 3 to discuss the recent announcement that the Chrysler Group LLC repaid $5.1 billion in outstanding loans? That brought the total repayment, as of May 24, to $10.6 billion — about $1.9 billion less than the $12.5 billion the company borrowed under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

In his speech, the president said:

Obama, June 3: "And today, I’m proud to announce the government has been completely repaid for the investments we made under my watch by Chrysler because of the outstanding work that you guys did. Because of you. Chrysler has repaid every dime and more of what it owes the American taxpayer from the investment we made during my watch. And by the way, you guys repaid it six years ahead of schedule."

Well, here's the bottom line: the Chrysler Group bailout officially ended today (July 21, 2011) when the Treasury Department sold off its remaining stake in the automaker. The final tally shows the taxpayers lost $1.3 billion.

Yep, we lost. $1.3 billion. With a "B."

Treasury is unlikely to recover the remaining $1.3 billion. But Tim Massad, the Treasury assistant secretary who oversees the TARP program, declared the bailout a success just the same.

Of course, just the same.



1 comment:

Cali Tatum said...

I will only purchase a car/vehicle from FORD. The only car company that had a good business model and did not take a fat cat bailout. This was nonsense from the beginning. I am a capitalist in its most brutal form. I am for true powerful entrepreneurship.