Hello, Mr. Webner. It’s one of your friendly securities analysts at the Treasury Department. Hot enough for you? Ha, ha!
What? Oh, no!
Yes, Mr. Webner. It’s me again. Time for you to get another update on that GM investment. This time, I’ve got good news and bad news. Which would you rather hear first?
The bad news, I suppose.
Well, I’m sorry to say that GM’s stock price has hit another new low. GM has lost more than one-third of its market value since it went public less than two years ago. We’re shocked. We thought those great commercials with likable folks talking about how smart they were to buy Chevy Volts would really cause a boom in sales.
So, how much have we lost?
Between the plummeting value of our GM stock and the tax breaks we’ve given the company to try to help it recover from decades of mismanagement, bad decisions, and short-sighted labor contracts, we’re out $35 billion.
$35 billion?!?! But I thought my Senator was boasting about what a smart move it was to bail out GM?
He’s saying it saved jobs, Mr. Webner. They just happen to be jobs that have been heavily subsidized by your tax dollars.
Wait — you said you had bad news and good news. What’s the good news?
Oh, yes! Right now, it looks like President Obama, the Democrat-controlled Senate, and the Republican-controlled House won’t be able to agree on an extension of the Bush era tax cuts. So, after the end of the year everyone’s taxes will probably increase, and we’ll have even more of your money to invest!
Click.
