The U.S. Treasury, which has provided $13.4 billion in emergency funding to keep GM operating since the start of the year, has indicated that it could also convert those taxpayer-backed loans into GM stock, the sources told Reuters.
That's from this Reuters news article. To my feeble brain, it means all other GM debtholders (I'm sure Goldman Sachs, AIG, the UAW, foreign interests, and all the rest are in this group) would receive preferential treatment that's far, far ahead of the U.S. taxpayer in a BK filing or "guided" restructuring.
Because the U.S. taxpayer's pockets are endless, of course.
And also because he's too dumb to follow the bouncing ball and, at some point, grab a pitchfork.
Until it's too late, that is.
(FWIW, my views on the automaker bailouts were expressed here.)
Though It Makes Me Wonder...
What do you suppose would've happened if, early this year, every U.S. tax-paying entity were to have received a separate bill from the IRS for $7,509? That's roughly the amount required to pay for the TARP program — $7.5k per every taxable U.S. return.
After all the phone calls to Congress from constituents who expressed their displeasure with the bill, and after those Congressfolk ignored said phone calls and emails and passed the bill with a "Well, we know best!" blowoff, how do you think that IRS bill-in-the-mail would've been received by Joe Q. Taxpayer?
Not so happily, methinks.
But I suspect that's what it'd take for people to understand that our future is being roundly looted at every turn.
