Temple University Economics Professor William Dunkelberg recently posted a nice, succinct article on how GM really didn't repay us after all.
He explains that the $8 Billion that GM gave back was clearly nowhere near the $80 Billion of TARP funds US taxpayers "invested" in GM and Chrysler. Instead, taxpayers received 61% of GM ("and a block of stock for the UAW").
Dunkelberg slams GM by saying that such a loss hardly represents the returns necessary to drive up the stock price "needed to insure a return of taxpayer money", hinting that he really doesn't believe GM will be able to pay everything back.
Then he claims that things could get...EVEN WORSE.
The GAO (Government Accountability Office) says that 900,000 pension funds are in need of $17 Billion (with another $15 Billion needed in short term). Not only that, but Professor Dunkelberg speculates that by using unions, more taxpayer money will be necessary in the near future.
What he fails to mention is that, A) the repayment was always meant to be a longer-term project (not a 12-month deal), B) a little positive PR goes a long way for morale, and C) people who believe everything they see and hear without questioning/understanding it are sheep whose opinions are irrelevant.
Just keep them warm and fed in their nice fuzzy bubbles of oblviousness, happiness and blind love.
That, and he probably drives one of them for'n cars.
By Phil Alex
Via: CNBC
