Reply to How do you feel about the General Motors and Chrysler bailout?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We saved an industry.  Money well spent.  GM had 2011 revenues of $150 billion and a profit of $7.6 billion.  Do you have a cheaper way to fill that hole?  [b]Any idea of how many jobs are involved in making $150 billion[/b]?

We put $85 billion into AIG  -- not to build anything, just to prevent catastrophe.  We gave hundreds of billions in tax cuts which provided zero stimulus.

Lastly, let's call the criticism what it is: politics.  We spent $18.6 billion to bail out the airline industry under Bush.  You don't hear a bunch of armchair quarterbacks second guessing that.  The auto bailout is only criticized because a Democrat did it.

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Many of those jobs are overseas.  Less that 1/2 of GM's jobs are in the US.  Other than Canada, who else helped bail them out.  GM also received billions in tax breaks because the bankruptcy laws were skirted in their case.  That money should also be seen as part of the bailout.[/quote]

I don't know what tax break you are talking about.  Bankrupt companies generally don't end up paying taxes unless they are brought out of bankruptcy.

[b]And sure they have employees all over the world.  But they also have dealerships, parts suppliers, and more who depend upon the company for the living.   Those jobs were on the chopping block, too.[/b] [/quote]

Then what is the point of capitalism if GM and the UAW made bad decisions for 35 years and the government has to bail them out.  Should we also bail out Sears?  Should we have bailed out Woolworth or Studebaker.  GM is now a smaller version of the same dysfunctional culture.[/quote]

Capitalism's answer to that is bankruptcy.  It wipes out the shareholders, punishing the owners for bad decisions. And then as is most often the case, someone comes around and buys the assets out of bankruptcy.

If you think this is an unwise investment for the government, I get that.  But the idea that it is a failure of capitalism to buy assets out of bankruptcy, insufficiently punishing bad decisions, well that's ridiculous.  If you really believe that, you sure can't vote for a hedge fund manager.[/quote]

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