I'm sure a lot of people have heard about how the administration was all excited about announcing GM had repaid their loan. As Mike Myer's Scottish Guy character on Saturday Night Live used to say, "It's crap!"
GM received a lump sum of money from taxpayers, and stored some in a separate account than that of its general operating expenses. With the separate money, the re-payed the original loan. I'm assuming that the loan repayment also included some funds from profit.
It's disgusting and an affront to every citizen in this country. GM even started running television ads stating they had re-payed the loan. What a lie! If the Obama administration was worried about transparency and accountability, this would be a great launching point for such an initiative.
GM should be required to repay whatever amount they used from the original bailout loan, with interest. I would even go as far to say GM would no longer be eligible for any type of government assistance.
Some people think this is a reason for more government oversight. No. If the government had never given Gimpy Motors bailout money in the first place, they would have done exactly what businesses are allowed to do of their own free will. Shape up, or ship out. Now, we're faced with a shady corporate entity that was only allowed to survive through government intervention.
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