Get ready, folks. America has bought a car company. As of Monday, we, the taxpayers, own a majority stake in General Motors Corp. Whether the company will be formally renamed Government Motors remains to be seen. But that's what it will be.
GM filed for bankruptcy Monday. Instead of putting the failed car enterprise into bankruptcy six months ago - where Carl Icahn or Wilbur Ross could have bought it - the Bush administration chose Bailout Nation. Under Team Obama, that bailout has morphed into full-scale government ownership. Twenty billion dollars of Troubled Asset Relief Program money is already invested in GM, with another $50 billion on the way. And that number could easily double unless GM car sales miraculously climb back to 14 million this year. That's highly unlikely, with sales presently hovering around 9 million a year.
In other words, taxpayers won't get their money back. Yes, we the people will be left holding the bag for the mistakes of GM's management and labor leaders over the past four decades.
This is bad news for our nation. Our final hope: Buy a Ford.
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