US sells GM

1953: GM President Charles Erwin Wilson tells the Senate Armed Services Committee “for years I thought what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa.”

2009: The United States Government takes 60 percent ownership of General Motors, 912 million shares.

2012: GM buys back 200 million shares of its own stock from the government for $5.5 billion; company execs are now allowed to use corporate jets again.

June 2013: The U.S. Treasury sells off 30 million shares in GM.

December 2013: The Federal government sells off its remaining shares in General Motors, leaving taxpayers with a net $10.5 billion loss on the total $49.5 billion bailout.  The Canadian government still owns $4.2 billion in GM preferred shares and the United Auto Workers union owns $5.4 billion in GM stock.

Related:

“With The Government Gone, GM Can Now Start Paying Its Execs Big Bucks,” Aaron Foley, Jalopnik

“New study estimates the effect on the U.S. economy of successful restructuring of General Motors” (press release), Center for Automotive Research

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Citibank CEO to Protesters: ‘Call Me, Dudes!’

Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit said he would be happy to talk with Occupy Wall Street protesters, calling their motives “completely understandable.” “Trust has been broken between financial institutions and the citizens of the U.S., and that is Wall Street’s job, to reach out to Main Street and rebuild that trust,” said the chief of the third largest U.S. bank. He made the remarks as he mingled with plain working folks at a breakfast organized by Fortune magazine. If you can’t make it to Mr. Pandit’s executive suite, Gawker obligingly provides his mobile phone number (646-512-4269) and suggests a few questions. Can’t get through? Try Mr. Pandit’s office phone (212-793-1201) or email him (vikram.pandit@citi.com).

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Wall Street’s Bailout Bonuses

 

Kenneth Feinberg, Special Master on Compensation Reform, cited 17 financial firms for “ill-advised” excessive payments to their executives while taxpayers were bailing their companies out with TARP funds. He called this “bad judgement.” Total of the bonuses and other executive payouts: $1.6 billion.

Big Deal at AIG

American taxpayers own 80 percent of American International Group Inc. (AIG) after the government bailed out the firm, one of the chief forces behind the world-wide financial collapse. AIG, your company, just granted huge pay increases to AIG’s top executives.

Goldman Sachs: ‘What Recession?’

Goldman Sachs helped alleviate economic suffering by donating  $16.2 billion to needy investment bankers. Its own. Company executives also committed a whopping 3% of that amount to help struggling small businesses. Strange; we thought New Yorkers always tipped 20%.

Goldman Sachs was saved from certain doom by the generosity of U.S. taxpayers, many of whom are now unemployed thanks to the machinations of Goldman Sachs. The company paid back the $10 billion in federal TARP funds that saved its assets. Why not? $12.9 billion of AIG’s federal bailout funds were paid directly to Goldman Sachs.

 

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Economic Recovery Simplifed

All you need to know about the current economic situation in the United States.

 

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