This Is Scary

Despite receiving $13 billion in taxpayer loans and a government guarantee of its automotive warranties, General Motors still appears destined for bankruptcy.

That basically means the failed company is right where former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson said it would be five months ago when he unilaterally decided to pour all that taxpayer money into it.

Or is it?

From MarketWatch:

General Motors Corp. shares fell as much as 19% on Monday in the wake of a report that the troubled automaker has been directed by the U.S. Treasury to lay the groundwork for a bankruptcy filing by June 1 …

The preparations are aimed at assuring a GM bankruptcy filing is ready if the company fails to reach a deal with bondholders to exchange roughly $28 billion in debt into equity in GM and to get needed concessions from the United Automobile Workers union.

Did you catch that?

Amazingly, we’re not talking about the “needed concessions” from the UAW, because it goes without saying that union greed is what killed the American automotive industry.

No, it’s that whole “directed by the U.S. Treasury” line that concerns us.

We should have never ended up in a position where government has that kind of control over the operation of a company – failing or otherwise.

Seriously, Obama has fired GM’s CEO, his administration is guaranteeing the company’s warranties and now his Treasury department is dictating the timing of its bankruptcy filing?

Those are three places government should never go – even in the midst of bailout mania.

Of course, if you thought bankruptcy meant an end to all the government intervention, think again …

Under one approach, the “good GM” enters and exits bankruptcy protection in as little as two weeks, using $5 billion to $7 billion in federal financing, the report said.

The rest of GM may require as much as $70 billion in government financing, and possibly more to resolve the automaker’s health-care obligations and the liquidation of the factories.

Good GM? Bad GM?

Good God.

Now government is picking and choosing when and how GM’s assets should be broken up?

This whole thing is disgusting – unless you’re a government bureaucrat or pinko commie bastard, of course, in which case it’s awesome!