GM BONUSES
Have you heard? GM - forever to be known as "Government Motors" - is going to pay its union employees record profit-sharing checks of more than $3,000 per worker. Let me know if this sounds familiar, "Sharing the U.S. auto industry's prosperity will be a focus of contract talks this year between the United Auto Workers and GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC." Sharing prosperity? That sounds eerily familiar. Wasn't it Monday when PrezBo told the Chamber of Commerce: "If we're fighting to reform the tax code and increase exports, the benefits cannot just translate into greater profits and bonuses for those at the top. They have to be shared by American workers, who need to know that opening markets will lift their standard of living as well as your bottom line."
Now you may be thinking, "Hey! That's pretty cool! Government Motors has paid off their government bailout loan!" Uhhhh ... no. Actually, they haven't. I'll give you the government-educated version (but you can read this article in Reason Magazine for more details): The taxpayers gave GM $49.5 billion, but only $6.7 billion came in the form of a pure loan. Yes, GM has paid back that $6.7 billion with interest, but the rest of that loan came in the form of purchasing an equity stake in the company - government ownership. It is also true that GM has since become a publicly traded company (back in November, I believe). But guess what? The government (you, the taxpayers) still own a 33% stake in the company.
So now, how about those record union bonuses?
