GM, Chrysler didn’t need rescue

The automobile industry did not need rescue. It did not need the government takeover. Only two badly run corporations were in trouble. The lawsuit was by the state of Indiana to protect its citizens’ pension plans. Many other states did the same thing to protect the assets of their citizens from the federal government takeover.

The resulting government takeover cost some pension plans 75 percent to 100 percent on the dollar. It has cost the people of the United States billions and now we also have to pay the General Motors and Chrysler retired employee pension plans. The government investment will never be paid back.

The unions were given controlling stock—what a gift—in the two companies, making them an unlikely investment for investors with the know-how to turn them around. The companies are still managed by the people who got them into trouble. That is not good business.

The government takeover violated the laws pertaining to protection of corporation creditors. Bankruptcy laws would have protected creditors, bondholders and stockholders—people who had pensions invested in the companies—and provided a way to keep the companies going without costing taxpayers, and kept payroll going and given those companies a better chance in the future.

Yes, we have suffered the consequences of a presidential administration that does not know what it is doing. It takes away constitutionally granted rights of its citizens and has given us an unbearable debt.

Who is thinking for the best for us?
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J. DV Pace II