The Washington Times reported yesterday on the results of the recent Initial Public Offering (IPO) of General Motors stock. The purpose of selling the stock was to begin paying back the government (and thus the American taxpayer) for the bailout of General Motors.
The article reports:
"Thanks to a generous share of GM stock obtained in the company's 2009 bankruptcy settlement, the United Auto Workers is well on its way to recouping the billions of dollars GM owed it -- putting it far ahead of taxpayers who have recouped only about 30 percent of their investment and further still ahead of investors in the old GM who have received nothing."
The article further points out:
"For taxpayers to break even, by contrast, the stock would have to rise to at least $52 and by some estimates as high as $103 -- levels that would take years to achieve."
Aside from the fact that backruptcy laws were not followed so that unions could be rewarded for their support of Democrats in 2008, this is simply morally wrong. The fact that the current backruptcy laws were violated is going to make investors more reluctant to invest in the future. There were also pension funds that owned preferred stock whose rights were violated and not held up in court. (See RightWingGranny article of May 21, 2009, for the lawsuit brought by three Indiana state pension funds for the bankruptcy law violations in the Chrysler bailout). Either we are a nation of laws or we are a nation of elitist privileges. The Obama Administration has caused me to wonder which of these is true.
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