Now let me get this straight
General Motors avoids bankruptcy by accepting about $50 Billion dollars from the Federal Government and in return, gives the Government a 60% ownership. This money is given in two stages, about $6B as an emergency bailout to cover wages and pension payments and about $43B as a long-term development load.
General Motors proceeds to raid the long-term cookie jar to pay the $6B loan off ahead of schedule -- big P.R. campaign there but the real story came out one day later.
OK -- Government Motors is now using a chunk of that $43 Billion dollars to give to various political organizations.
From the
Washington Post:
GM donates $41,000 to lawmakers' pet projects
When General Motors went through bankruptcy last year, it suspended its political donations. Now that it's owned by the U.S. government, it's donating to lawmakers' pet projects again.
The carmaker gave $41,000 to groups associated with lawmakers, the vast majority of it -- $36,000 -- to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, the company reported on a disclosure form last week. The CBC Foundation is a charity with 11 members of the Congressional Black Caucus on its board.
So it is OK for a government owned business that is funded by the government to take taxpayer money and hand it to various political groups? I am not a lawyer but this seems really fishy to me...
Posted by DaveH at August 7, 2010 8:46 PM