Like a crock: GM's misleading ad The Union Leader
"A lot of Americans didn't agree with giving GM a second chance," Whitacre says. "Quite frankly, I can respect that." Actually, a lot of Americans wanted GM to have a second chance. They just didn't want to be the ones paying for it.
After blatantly mischaracterizing American opposition to GM's federal bailout, Whitacre then makes the claim that GM has repaid its government loan in full. That's baloney. GM got more than $50 billion in loans from Washington. Most of that money was converted to GM stock, and $7.1 billion was left to be repaid in cash. GM repaid that $7.1 billion "ahead of the original schedule" only because Washington moved its due date up to this summer.
What of the other bailout money GM got? The Congressional Budget Office expects taxpayers will lose more than $30 billion of it. But wait, there's more!
GM didn't repay the $7.1 billion from profits it made selling cars. Neil Barofsky, inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, from which GM got its bailout, told Congress last week that GM repaid that money "by taking other available TARP money" it had laying around in an escrow account.
