GM, TARP, and BS

I remember watching TV a week or so ago, when a commercial for General Motors came on. There was Edward E. Whitacre Jr., CEO of GM, walking through a car plant, boasting about how GM had paid off its TARP loan, in full, with interest, and ahead of schedule.

WHAT. THE. FUCK? Was the very first thing that popped into my head. How the fuck were they able to pay that loan off so damn fast? I mean, it's been just a little over a year since they received the TARP funds and less then a year since they declared bankruptcy and re-org'd into a smaller company, 61% of which is owned by the Federal Government.

GM owed around $50 Billion to the Federal Government. How in the fuck were they able to pay that off in less then a year, when the company, per bankruptcy documents, was only worth $82.3 Billion in assests and over $172 Billion in debt.

They took a huge hit when they went into bankruptcy. So, how the fuck were they able to pay off their debt to the Taxpayers? Well, they simply used other Taxpayer money to pay it. Gotta give them and the Government credit for shuffling the money around. *sigh*

Taxpayers are naturally eager for news about bailout repayments. But what neither G.M. nor the Treasury disclosed was that the company simply used other funds held by the Treasury to pay off its original loan.

Neil M. Barofsky, the inspector general overseeing the troubled asset program, revealed this detail when he spoke before the Senate Finance Committee on April 20.

“So it’s good news in that they’re reducing their debt,” Mr. Barofsky said of G.M. But he went on to note that G.M. was using other taxpayer money to make the loan repayment, according to the transcript of his testimony.