If Autos Ran on Red Ink, GMAC Would Be Like a Mileage Leader

If your personal finances are in a funk, then misery loves company with a government-backed warranty:

GMAC, a crucial player in the U.S. auto industry, has been unable to raise the $11.5 billion regulators said it needed after stress test results were announced in May. The Fed says the finance company is expected to close the gap with more money from the $700 billion financial bailout.

GMAC, already the recipient of $12.5 billion in taxpayer infusions, is negotiating with regulators over how much more it will receive.

More from AP via Cincinnati Enquirer here.

Reason.tv on the auto bailout (yeah, yeah, this is the bailout of a bank, yeah, yeah):

Update: Commenter Hmm notes, "GM doesn't own GMAC anymore. The auto connection is tenuous at best and there eeally isn't an auto bailout connection with GMAC." It's absolutely right that GM doesn't own GMAC anymore. However, GMAC was bailed out via the Treasury Department's administration of TARP and it applied to become recognized as a bank only after that seemed to be the only way it could get bailout dough (read Jacob Sullum's column, linked above and here, on the matter). And GM and Chrysler received loans from Treasury because then-Secretary Hank Paulson, who feared a "disorderly bankruptcy" of the two automakers, claimed authority to do so under TARP. Even though TARP was supposed to be for banks and banks alone. Which now include GMAC, so it can get money to help out the automakers it's no longer owned by. So the auto bailout connection is quite strong, despite it legally not being particularly strong.