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  • November 16, 2009 11:29 AM EST by John Stossel

    $10,000 per Congressional Motors Car Sold

    UPDATED: Study link available here.

    Economist Thomas D Hopkins of the Rochester Institute of Technology will publish a study later today for the National Taxpayers Union that finds the cost of the auto bailout amounts to about $10,000 for every vehicle sold. We got an advanced look at the study, which says:

    The federal government has distributed to the U.S. auto industry thus far some $80 billion of taxpayer funds since December 2008--about $800 per American taxpaying family....Virtually all of the money has gone to just three firms--General Motors, Chrysler and GMAC--with GM alone receiving over $50 billion.

    Despite this gift of your money, the GAO says that the automakers’ survival as financially viable firms "remains unclear". Business Week reports that "the numbers have been shockingly bad" and Consumer Reports says of Chrysler, "we couldn't recommend any of its products in last year's survey because of mediocre performance, poor reliability, or both."

    If GM and Chrysler do not survive past next year, says Hopkins:

    the taxpayer bailout burden could amount to some $10,700 per 2009-10 vehicle sold.

    That's more than a third of the average price of a new car. The only way for this burden to be lessened, Hopkins writes, is if GM and Chrysler somehow manage to survive without additional bailouts. But those prospects are bleak.

    Now that we own GM and a piece of Chrysler, I think we'll find it difficult to get rid of them. Already, GMAC is asking for a third round of bailouts in the range of $2.8 - 5.6 billion. Sadly, this Saturday Night Live skit lampooning GM's bailout proposal may wind up close to the truth.

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Floost

Interesting and informative. But will you write about this one more?

November 22, 2009 at 3:26 pm

Ventego

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November 19, 2009 at 9:42 am

LJ from Kansas

Government Motors & Chrysler were bailed out with 2009 Stimlus Act money signed into law January 2009. Also in that law is the enforcement language and budget for the ObamaCare bill now being readied to shove down our throats. True, Death Panal language and other enforcement language is now law and just waiting for ObamaCare to pass. And BINGO! Obama and his Marxist buddies have us by the ball$. Good Bie America. This is what happenes when legislators do not read what they are signing.

November 17, 2009 at 10:26 pm

Tom

I always wonder what I could have done with all that money if the govt let me spend it myself. So far, I haven't qualified for the "stimulus check", but I'd probably have to pay that back now anyway. I don't qualify for the first-time home buyers CREDIT of $8000, and couldn't afford to buy a house now even if I did. I couldn't use that $4500 (taxable) credit on a new car since (1) I don't need a new car, and (2) I can't afford a NEW car anyway. I can't use the home improvement tax CREDIT ..

November 17, 2009 at 1:18 pm

jessica

yeah i want a new car but im not using someone elses money to get. i am just frusterated with the government right now. i really dont think obama was ready to be president he is just way to inexperienced to be one. well basically i would like to say your welcome to all of those who used my tax dollars for a car....your welcome

November 17, 2009 at 12:52 pm

govt has ponied uip $10k per car sold - U.S. Politics Online: A Political Discussion Forum

[...] has ponied uip $10k per car sold such a deal ! whats wrong with this picture ? I think its time to say "enough". actually the time for [...]

November 17, 2009 at 12:26 pm

Steve

Government spending on this level will never do any good. That money will never be recouped. My only hope is that stories like these make it so the slothful and the leech vote do not elect another Neo-Marxist puppet into office. No more American Idol Presidents! Government growth is a cancer that will kill this Republic as well as any lingering symptoms of personal responsibility.

November 17, 2009 at 10:11 am

Grant

How about not spending any more of my tax money on any vehicles. If people want green cars, people will demand green cars, and companies will be profitable producing green cars. We'd be better off if GM were to go under leaving an opening for companies that build what consumers want. The scary part is how much the governmentcan blow on a project, and not have any accountability for it. Then they will pretend as if there is a success when it is a complete failure. Healthcare anyone?

November 17, 2009 at 10:10 am

Christopher

There purpose of bailing out the big 3 is to keep the UAW alive and healthy. There's no way the gov't will allow the UAW to fail - not unless you vote the pro union clowns out of office next November.

November 17, 2009 at 9:56 am

RD Davis

Before '0, when a new car sold, money came into the US treasury via taxes, now it goes out? How's that "HOPE" and "CHANGE" working out for yall? Also, when '0 and the demos took over majority status in the congress jan '07, unemployment was 4.4%. Economic growth was above 4%....... There's "CHANGE" you can put your finger on!!

November 17, 2009 at 9:53 am

AT

It could be $100,000/car and neither Congress nor the average American would care. It is printed money, not to be paid back for many, many years, if ever. Certainly not to be paid by the people passing the legislation or the people electing them. This cost would only cause outrage if the $800/family were collected this year. I hope it all fails. The spectre of government bailouts succeeding is much worse than the loss of the money already thrown down this hole.

November 17, 2009 at 9:51 am

LAD

Under the law, unions are granted monopoly rights that are harmful to society. If a business owner is prohibited from firing his employees and hiring new ones, don't be surprised if his employees are overpaid, unproductive and the company eventually goes under. That's what happened to the automakers and that's what's happening to California. It's time to terminate union monopoly rights in America.

November 16, 2009 at 10:27 pm

Rob O

Stop it. How about spending that bailout money on new companies that are producing alternate fuel vehicles. What would the price of a Tesla be if this occured? Those large companies are so "broken" that this money won't fix them.

November 16, 2009 at 2:53 pm

DaveYoung

Since we now own the auto companies, lets dissolve the UAW contracts.

November 16, 2009 at 2:24 pm
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  • John Stossel joined FOX Business and FOX News in October 2009. His show, Stossel, airs on the Fox Business Network on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET

    He is the New York Times best-selling author of Give Me A Break and Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity. His "Give Me a Break" commentaries take a skeptical look at a wide array of issues, such as education, the economy, parenting, and more.

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