People actually brag about this?

[Dan Moadus]

That was simply a loan. The government didn't take control of the company. They didn't end up being owned by Fiat then did they?

[irishbobcat]

What about the Chrysler bailout of 1980?

[Dan Moadus]

Often I hear Democrats proudly taking credit for saving two of the big three auto makers. The fact that someone thinks that this is something to be proud of doesn't give me much hope for the salvation of America as we know it.

Generally, saving something doesn't mean giving it to someone else, but isn't that what happened to GM? The people who owned the company before the bail out no longer own it. Also consider the people who loaned GM money as it struggled to stay afloat (the bondholders), they got nothing. A true bailout would have consisted of loaning the company money to enable it to reorganize itself, and assuring it's creditors that the company would be supported until it got back on its feet.

General Motor's treatment differed little from what third world dictators do when they nationalize a company. The company was taken from its owners without compensation; the debts it owed were cancelled as well, leaving the owners and lenders high and dry. Government bureaucrats then decided to close some divisions (Saturn and Pontiac) as well as forcing many of it's dealerships to close regardless of the contracts they may have had or how profitable they were. The company then was given to its employees and part of it was sold to new investors.

The reason I am not hopeful for the survival of our country is that there has not been an uprising. The government takes a private company from its owners, stiffs its lenders, gives the company to its workers, sells what left and not only isn't there an uprising, people actually brag about it as if they did something good. God help us.