Old GM CEO: We repayed the bailout in full with interest! New GM CEO: Repaying bailout could take ye

As I reported multiple times already, the Obama administration, through its appointed CEO Ed Whitacre, delivered a blitzkrieg of public advertising with supposed good news in claiming that GM had paid off its government TARP loan 5 years early and with interest. The intellectually non-curious MSM regurgitated the talking points with nary a question. I had one one though - how could a company that hadn't posted a solid profit since 2004 pay back anyone a single red cent? In fact, I was the first blogger, to my knowledge, to pose that GM paid back its government loan with other government loan money. Here are the hard facts as I have reported before:

1. There were essentially 2 bailout accounts, one an $8 billion loan and the other a $49.5 billion escrow account (like a line of credit), both from TARP funds (apparently, most of that escrow was used to get a 61% government stake in GM)
2. GM used the escrow TARP funds to pay the TARP loan
3. GM did this to get another $10 billion loan from the Department of Energy (see update on this post)

So Whitacre is out, and in comes new CEO Daniel Akerson. What says he regarding the bailout that Whitacre said was paid in full, early, and with interest? From the AP via MLive: GM CEO says repaying bailout could take years. How does one opine exactly that it will take years to pay back bailout money that his predecessor said was paid back in full? The state-run, Obama-approved AP couldn't help itself though in trying to make it seem as though GM did repay some of the bailout:

GM has repaid $6.7 billion of the money the government put up to save the company and get it through bankruptcy protection last year, and the remaining $43 billion was converted to a 61 percent ownership stake.

GM had 2 government accounts. They used one account to close out the other. That's like paying off one of your credit cards with another one, say your Visa with your Master Card. You didn't really pay off anything. But then again, this is the kind of BS you expect from the AP these days.

Previously:
Congressmen say GM is destroying documents related to their fraudulent commercial
GM in line for $10 billion government grant, declared "financially viable" even after payback fraud
Obama car czar Steve Rattner: yeah - GM lied their butts off about paying back the taxpayers
GM False Advertising Challenged by Watchdog Competitive Enterprise Institute in FTC Filing
New York Times: GM's 'repayment' of loan is a total fraud
Reason TV Video: How The Hell Did GM Pay Back Its Loans "in Full And Ahead of Schedule"? Well, It Didn't
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) to GM on bailout shell game: "dangerously close to committing fraud," "you might have colluded with the U.S. Treasury to deceive the American public"
Macomb Daily injects bias into news stories, claims GM critics just like the Confederacy or something
Good grief! US Treasury defends GM paying off loan with other loan money
As GM plays bailout shell game, Ford reports $2.1 billion profit; will boost production
GM Could Be in Trouble With The FTC Over Truth in Advertising
Video: GM commercial touts government loan payback that is proven to be a fraud
GM pays TARP loan with TARP money, Part 2 - Left-Wingers, Firedoglake, Wipe Egg From Faces
GM Repays $8.1 Billion Government Loan With Government Money

http://theblogprof.blogspot.com/2010/09/old-gm-ceo-we-repayed-bailout-in-full.html

Sent with MobileRSS for iPhone

Sent from my iPhone