Reason Writers Around Town: Shikha Dalmia on More Bailout Baloney from General Motors
President Obama is planning to make the news that General Motors made profits last quarter and is rehiring again a major part of his re-election campaign. But as Reason Foundation Senior Analyst Shikha Dalmia points out, if this is a success, then Charlie Sheen is a smash hit. In fact, she notes, GM's latest earnings report shows that, absent a miracle, the company will never be able to repay taxpayers in full. They stand to lose, she says:
anywhere from $13 billion to $19 billion on their principal and another $45 billion on taxes, for a grand total of from $58 billion to $64 billion in losses. And that's just for GM. Chrysler is a whole different—and equally sordid—story. Even Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner acknowledged last month, "We're going to lose money in the auto industry."
Read the whole thing here.