if GM is doing great why isn't it repaying debt ?

[dogtowner]

but Tom Hanks said it HAD paid it back !

first, Tom read a script
second, expect at best only a partial truth out of the administration
short answer is, it just ain't so.

Politics: The Obama camp can't stop clucking about how he saved GM and the car industry. But if the GM bailout is such a success story, why can't it pay back its debt to taxpayers?
The president's new campaign video narrated by actor Tom Hanks claims GM has "repaid" its loans. But in a revelation by the special inspector general monitoring the TARP bailout program, GM and GMAC together still owe the biggest share of the remaining $119 billion TARP debt.
Of the top bailout recipients, GM is the biggest laggard, the TARP watchdog says in his latest quarterly report to Congress. Bank of America, Citigroup, Chrysler and Chrysler Financial all have paid off their debt and left the TARP program. Even AIG has paid back more than 75% of what it owes taxpayers.

GM, on the other hand, still owes more than half the $50 billion in federal funds it received when the combination of the recession and its costly union contracts drove it into bankruptcy. And its lending arm, GMAC (now Ally Financial), still owes $14.5 billion.

What's worse, it's not clear that GM actually repaid what it's gotten credit for repaying. Check out this note buried in the inspector's report: "As part of a credit agreement with Treasury, $16.4 billion in TARP funds were placed in an escrow account that GM could access only with Treasury's permission."

As it turns out, GM got Treasury's OK to "repay" more than $6.7 billion "using a portion of the escrow account that had been funded with TARP funds." So GM is merely paying the government back with government money, not money GM is earning selling cars, as the administration has claimed.

Worse, GM in effect is still borrowing money. Consider this item from the report: "What remained in escrow was released to GM." Bottom line: Taxpayers have not been paid back and are still on the hook as GM continues to require government help. Yet Obama has hailed the GM bailout as the signature achievement of his big government programs.

"On the day I took office, our auto industry was on the verge of collapse. Some even said we should let it die. With a million jobs at stake, I refused to let that happen," the president said. "Today, General Motors is back on top as the world's No. 1 automaker."

Even that's a stretch. GM edged tsunami-crippled Toyota by counting sales at its joint ventures in China, which aren't wholly owned subsidiaries. And the government is directly subsidizing new GM auto lines like the star-crossed Chevy Volt.

Ford, which didn't take TARP funds, grabbed market share from GM and is now more profitable. Ironically, Ford for the first time in years has outsold GM in the number of cars bought by the federal government - although Washington still owns a huge stake in GM. Not exactly a vote of confidence.

In North America, Ford just recorded its highest quarterly profit since 2000. GM missed profit estimates in the fourth quarter. And analysts are not sanguine about its first-quarter results due Thursday.

The GM story is hardly what we're looking for in terms of a recovery. That Obama is touting it as a top economic achievement speaks volumes about his policies.

 

[pocketfullofshells]

Why don't you ask Romney it was his plan....well at least now thats what the Etch a sketch's people are trying to claim.

"One of Mitt Romney's top advisers said Saturday that President Obama's decision to bailout Chrysler and General Motors was actually Romney's idea.
"[Romney's] position on the bailout was exactly what President Obama followed. I know it infuriates them to hear that," Eric Fehrnstrom, senior adviser to the Romney campaign, said.
"The only economic success that President Obama has had is because he followed Mitt Romney's advice."

But don't worry I know his real position was to never let them make profits...as they should be gone and evryone that worked for them, Ford, Chrysler, and the out parts companies that supplied them should be looking for new work...while you guys bitch about Unemployment

 

[Richard Savage]

Mitt Romney recently made a speech criticizing President Obama for the government bailout of General Motors. It wasn’t a government bailout, it was a bankruptcy reorganization. The General Motors (GM) Chapter 11 case was filed at the height of the economic recession; and there were no banks or other commercial lenders that could provide the DIP (Debtor in Possession) financing necessary to continue business operations during the reorganization proceedings; and without the government assistance (and that of Canada as well) GM would have been DOA (dead on arrival) on the first day, forcing the liquidation of the company, and loss of thousands of jobs as happened in the Circuit City bankruptcy that cost over 35,000 jobs. The liquidation of GM would in turn precipitate the failure of hundreds of related industry manufacturers and suppliers, resulting in a flood of business bankruptcy cases across the country, and loss of millions of jobs. And, as it turned out, the reorganization was a success; witness the profitability of the company today.

It is within living memory that it was said: "What is good for General Motors is good for America. President Obama was right in saving GM; he did it for the good of the country; he did it to save American jobs. It says a lot about his leadership priorities. Mitt Romney says that he "likes being able to fire people. . . ." What does that say about him? Surely, it does not speak well.

 

[dogtowner]

Mitt Romney recently made a speech criticizing President Obama for the government bailout of General Motors. It wasn’t a government bailout, it was a bankruptcy reorganization. The General Motors (GM) Chapter 11 case was filed at the height of the economic recession; and there were no banks or other commercial lenders that could provide the DIP (Debtor in Possession) financing necessary to continue business operations during the reorganization proceedings; and without the government assistance (and that of Canada as well) GM would have been DOA (dead on arrival) on the first day, forcing the liquidation of the company, and loss of thousands of jobs as happened in the Circuit City bankruptcy that cost over 35,000 jobs. The liquidation of GM would in turn precipitate the failure of hundreds of related industry manufacturers and suppliers, resulting in a flood of business bankruptcy cases across the country, and loss of millions of jobs. And, as it turned out, the reorganization was a success; witness the profitability of the company today.

It is within living memory that it was said: "What is good for General Motors is good for America. President Obama was right in saving GM; he did it for the good of the country; he did it to save American jobs. It says a lot about his leadership priorities. Mitt Romney says that he "likes being able to fire people. . . ." What does that say about him? Surely, it does not speak well.

it was a bankruptcy reorganization

then why wasn't the bankruptcy court alowed to manage it ? the government could have been the bridge financier and let the process unfold but thats not what happened was it ? we all know the reason why. none of the problems that brought GM's woes were solved but that was not the goal.