On Government Motors

I am not following all of this 47 percent dependency society stuff.  I bet most voters did not know that each and everyone of us is a shareholder -- in General Motors!  The US government owns 26.5% of the one-time automotive titan.  Even though Chevy Volts are not exactly flying out the door, both the GM top brass and the feds are starting to look forward to the day when the government cashes in its stake.

But when is this deal going to go down?   WSJ reports that the government is in no hurry because if it sold its GM stock now it would end up losing $15 billion.  GM stock would have to go up to $53 for the government to break even; right now the stock is trading at $25.  

So what do we have to show for our $15 billion "investment" in GM?  GM currently employs 202,000 worldwide and about 68,500 in the US.  Of course, GM is part of a global supply chain, so there are parts and materials providers and auto dealers who also depend on their continued existence.  Let's propose that the bailout saved 200,000 US jobs (this is probably much too big a number; someone -- Toyota, Volkswagen, Honda? -- would have purchased GM's assets in bankrupcy and redeployed them).  Then it ended up costing US taxpayers $75k per GM job saved.  Each person can judge on his or her own the wisdom of that investment.