Quote:
Originally Posted by d-ray657
I assume that in that inflated figure, you're not accounting for the additional tax revenue that is derived from thousands and thousands of workers in decent paying jobs, and thousands and thousands fewer needing unemployment benefits and other social services.
Regards,
D-Ray
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It ain't inflated. That's just the estimate for GM. A host of other companies got bailed out too, but that's another story.
The talk track on the auto bailouts has always been that if the government hadn't stepped in, all those workers would be unemployed. That's sophistry.
The demand for cars would not have gone away. GM's manufacturing capacity and cuurent sales would likely have allowed it to sustain operations - albeit at a reduced level - while it shed costs and debt in a traditional bankruptcy. Even with government intervention, the workforce was still reduced. That would likely have happened in a traditional bankruptcy. Pension and labor costs might have been reduced more effectively in a traditional bankruptcy as well. It also might have given GM greater flexibility to shift labor and productive capacity to plants that were producing product that was in higher demand.
I guess we'll never know, though...