So I scanned FreeRepublic up and down...and could find no mention of...

[scheming daemons]

...the big story that GM is paying back their entire bailout amount two months early.... with interest.


Republicans told us that it was a "giveaway" that the taxpayers would never see returned.

Republicans told us that it was socialistic and wrong for the Government to prop up a failing company.

Republicans derided GM as "Government Motors" and vowed to never buy another GM or Chrysler vehicle.



They were wrong on all counts. And apparently they over-estimated the economic impact of their "boycott" of GM and Chrysler.



President Obama saved the American Auto Industry


And dammit, we need to be repeating that over and over and over for the next several months.


Hundreds of thousands of jobs saved. Whole towns saved.


Obamanomics is working..... and frankly, not enough of us are talking about it loud enough or long enough.



The freepers are understandably completely silent on this topic today. Not a fucking peep.



But Democrats everywhere need to make sure this gets touted..... and that starts here at DU.

[geardaddy]

1. You're a braver soul than I

for scanning that shite. I mean site.

[Warpy]

2. GM was especially motivated to pay back that cash

since their upper management got a swift kick in the arse for them to get it. Keeping that loan on the books meant keeping the potential for another swift kick along with it.

I'm not a bit surprised they got out from under that quickly. I'm only mildly surprised that the rabid and ignorant right is still pretending the government owns them rather than owning a debt they owed.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

7. Yep. George Will was spouting that ignorant bullshit on Colbert last night.

He actually said "What's the worst that could happen if the American Car Manufacturers went under?"

[NoNothing]

17. Ignorance is a two-way street

The U.S. Government *does still own* around 60% of GM. As in, the Treasury owns the actual shares. They paid over $50 billion for them.

[Qutzupalotl]

26. Self-delete

[notadmblnd]

3. yeah, but did u run across any 420 celebrations?

I didn't think so.

[TransitJohn]

4. Have a sockpuppet over there? Post it.

:hi:

[OHdem10]

5. The WH should start having a big event when these guys pay the

loans off in full. Likewise when we get interest payments.

When Lee Iacoco payed of the Chryler Lwan years ago I still
remember that was a news story from the WH.

Some Banks have paid back money also.

This is the way you counter that half crocked bailout whiners.

[Angry Dragon]

6. I do not understand

how you can say they are wrong when they have all the facts and truths on their side.

[LynneSin]

8. I can't find crap on that website it's so poorly designed.

Not sure what RimJob does with all that freepathon money but definately it's not upgrading their website.

[NoNothing]

9. Don't overstate what has happened

They paid back the $6 billion direct loan ahead of schedule, but they are still owned by the U.S. government to the tune of $50 billion and change.

[Froward69]

11. US Still Owns 60.1% of GM stock

it is good GM is paying it back with interest. but until that 60.1% is Liquidated the claim Obama "Owns" GM is still somewhat legit.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/04/gm-to-announce-it-will-pay-back-government-loans-soon/1

[Kahuna]

14. Nonsense. "Obama" doesn't own anything. I doubt that the shares

are in his name.

[Froward69]

20. Agreed ... I misspoke

the Guberment owns... or Obama owns... I do not agree, yet the teabaggers/republicans do not know the diffrence.

[Common Sense Party]

10. Hyperbole much? "President Obama saved the American Auto Industry"

The U.S. Auto industry is FAR from being "saved."

The only one that can save it is the auto companies themselves...and they haven't shown much aptitude for wise or novel thinking.

[scheming daemons]

12. Without the administration's actions last year, it would already be dead

The fact that they're paying off their loans ahead of time and that an IPO is imminent is a very big deal.


Without Obama's actions, there would be currently no GM at all.



That's not hyperbole, that's fact.

[Common Sense Party]

15. They're on life support. They're not "saved."

[NoNothing]

16. You don't know that

Many companies file Chapter 11 and come back leaner and meaner to great success. In this case, it was arguably necessary to prevent that because of the sheer number of retirees and workers that would be shafted by a Chapter 11 reorganization under ordinary rules, but GM itself would probably emerge in pretty good shape.

[safeinOhio]

22. and owned by China

instead of the US.

[NoNothing]

25. A distinction without a difference!

Who do you think owns the U.S. Treasury bonds that financed the government buyout?

[progressoid]

30. So then it was China that saved the American auto industry.

Thanks for the clarification.

[quiet.american]

19. Yep. nt

[Subdivisions]

49. Just how, exactly, are they able to pay off their loans 'ahead of time'? n/t

[ScreamingMeemie]

24. Thanks for this... my family and friends will be glad to know that

the US Auto Industry was "SAVED by OBAMA!" while they send out resume upon resume...

[olegramps]

54. How about backing up your statements with facts.

The American auto industry is producing top rate cars. Sorry about your Toyota stock.

[PinkFloyd]

13. YAY!! A responsible decision paid off.

I never understood the right's ideology on letting "free market" take it's course and letting close to 3 million join the unemployment line. None of the right ever talked about what would have happened if Obama didn't give them the money. We'd be lucky if unemployment was just 20%. It would have devastated MI.

I'm so glad to see the right decision paid off. I hope they never wind up in this trouble again.

[quiet.american]

18. K&R nt

[Grand Taurean]

21. Much faster than the banksters

[Turbineguy]

23. Wow!

I think I now know what Hannibal Lechter's Psychiatrist must feel like.

[leeloo]

27. Here is the link...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2497507/posts

[scheming daemons]

32. The posters in that thread are laughably idiotic in their responses and logic

The US Govt will recoup the remaining $44 billion when the GM IPO happens later this fall.... they'll likely recoup much MORE than $44 million, actually.


The Govt owns 60% of GM. The minute the public stock offering occurs, that 60% is sellable. With the profitable quarters GM is likely to have leading up to that offering, the govt will make much more than they paid in.


It's an unqualified success.

[leeloo]

51. I do not want to burst your bubble of a idea..

GM did not make any profits so far this year the payment was taken from another TARP program and given to the Gov,kinda like paying off one credit card with another one...
Nobody is going to buy stocks in a company that loses money,so the stock offerings are worthless...
Maybe the taxpayer can give $44 billion loan to GM and then they can give it to the Gov and say we GM has paid back the loan?????

[Name removed]

53. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[newtothegame]

28. DEAD WRONG.

President Obama DID NOT save the American Auto Industry. The workers themselves did.

I suppose you're one of those people that thinks that the poor little slaves were saved by Lincoln?

[leftynyc]

29. Without the government bailout

3 million people would have been on the unemployment line - no matter what the workers did. Your other question makes no sense whatsoever.

[B Calm]

40. I work for a company that makes bumpers for Detroit. 1 year ago

we were on the brink of closing down our company. Thanks to President Obama with the loan and combined with the wildly successful Cash for Clunkers, we are busy as hell!

DOW is above 11000 and the democratic party saved the day! CELEBRATE

[ecstatic]

31. ...starts here at DU

Good luck with that! There seems to be as much haters or more on DU as on freerepublic!

[B Calm]

33. I told the right wing racists at work how Pres Obama saved our jobs!

[Zomby Woof]

34. Never fear

The Yahoo message boards are in Full Fascist Freeper Fuckhead Mode.

They are scapegoating the unions, claiming that the bailout has been far from repaid due to the stocks, etc.

The unions! They have been all but marginalized these days, so it's incredible (but not suprising) that they are still being blamed.

[Subdivisions]

35. How did GM manage to accomplish that with half their dealerships shut down? How

was the revenue produced which, in turn, produced billions of dollars in profit with which to repay the bailout?

[scheming daemons]

36. Because they were bloated and had twice as many dealerships as they needed

...

[Subdivisions]

37. How do you produce $BILLIONS with most of your ability to generate

revenue shut down?

[scheming daemons]

38. If there were 4 dealerships near you before, and 2 now... has your ability to buy a GM gone away?

The dealerships are not "generating" any revenue.


Instead of 4 dealerships selling a total of 1000 cars... your hypothetical neighborhood now has 2 dealerships selling a total of 1200 cars.


GM didn't cut their manufacturing capacity.... just the number of retail outlets.

[Subdivisions]

39. So, all the closed dealerships where OWNED by GM? Or were they

independent franchisers? And, if they were independents, how did that benefit GM if those dealerships were no longer selling their products and adding to their bottom line? Also, how does shutting down dealerships result in the sale of more cars and trucks in order to produce a profit with which to pay back the bailout loan? Also, where did all this profit (with which to repay the bailout) come from in an economic atmosphere (the worst since the Great Depression) where access to credit is nearly non-existent? Where did all the buyers come from? How many cars has GM sold since it was bailed out?

[scheming daemons]

41. Your logic is extremely flawed

The number of dealerships has no direct relation to the number of cars sold.


Using your logic, if GM tripled the number of dealerships, they would triple the amount of cars sold.



Dealerships don't build cars. Factories do.


If GM sold 1 million cars last month.... what difference does it make if they were sold at 1000 dealerships (1000 cars each), 500 dealerships (2000 cars each), or 100 dealerships (10,000 cars each)?


The demand for GM cars is up. People might have to drive a little farther to get to the nearest GM dealership, but so what?



Are you that lacking in basic economics that you think an increase in a number of stores results in an increase in number of sales?

[Subdivisions]

43. No, I just don't buy it that GM has sold enough cars to half their original

dealerships in order to have generated enough PROFIT in such a short time as to enable the repayment of $$$BILLIONS in bailout loans.

But since there's no way to prove it, they can tell us whatever they want.


BTW: I'd like to see some substantiation for this: "The demand for GM cars is up."

[scheming daemons]

44. April 1 news report: "GM Reports 21% Increase in Sales in March"

http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/01/news/companies/autosales/index.htm


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/01/business/main6353737.shtml



Also... they were up 11.5% in February.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/gm_auto_sales_up_percent_in_february_JxERpDiVY84nHoLU09ojcN




The number of dealerships is irrelevant to the number of sales.


In fact, if GM can sell 1000 cars at one dealership, they make a helluva lot more profit than if those sales were spread over three or four dealerships.

[Subdivisions]

45. Not one of those sources is credible. Thanks for playin' though. n/t

[KittyWampus]

47. CNN and CBS News isn't credible on reporting basic facts?

LOL!

[Subdivisions]

48. No, they aren't. And there's not a fucking thing funny about it. n/t

[scheming daemons]

52. The source of the data was GM's balance sheets

CBS and CNN are just reporting that.

What evidence would be acceptable to you?


When the company's own balance sheets show a 21% gain in sales, and you discount that data, then there literally is no proof that can be presented to you.


Arguing with you over this is like trying to convince a flat-earther that the world is round.

[Scurrilous]

42. K & R

:thumbsup:

[karynnj]

46. But, what happens to the RW talking point that includes the auto

industry into what Obama has had the government take over - because he is a socialist. I know the country still holds a large number of shares in GM, but as a market develops for them they could be cashed in.

[B Calm]

50. Still nothing about GM. . . amazingly quiet

[MilesColtrane]

55. The original bailout plan for the auto industry was negotiated between Congress and the...

Bush administration, and followed through by the Obama administration.

It is more accurate to say that those players, plus the American taxpayers, saved the Auto industry.