Romney’s Bailout Bashing Rhetoric Does not Mesh with Reality

General Motors released its 2011 financial results today. As sometimes-Republican-presidential-frontrunner Mitt Romney defends his stance that GM should have been allowed to fail, I think we should consider this about the “Obama bailout of the US auto industry:”

1. 47,500 blue-collar GM workers in the U.S. will get $7,000 profit-sharing checks in March – they would not have jobs had the company “been allowed to fail,” let alone bonus checks.
2. GM turned a profit of $7.6 billion, beating its old record of $6.7 billion in 1997 during the pickup truck and SUV boom.
3. GM’s 2011 profit of $4.58 per share was 62 percent higher than a year earlier. Full-year revenue rose 11 percent to $150 billion – investors are fairly happy and appear to be interested in holding GM stock.
4. The US government still owns 26.5% of this successful company – it is waiting for the stock price to rise so the bailout is repaid in full.
5. Oh, let’s not forget the bailout started under President Bush and was completed under President Obama. They both deserve credit.

Sure, the economy is still rough and there are some rough spots in GM’s reports, but the company looks like it will survive and many people are at work making American made cars. That is a good thing.

### 

Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com


This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.