GM now bailing out 'a little part of Europe' via Peugeot using part of the $25 billion it still owes US taxpayers 'which may never be recovered'

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"General Motors Co. owes about $25 billion" to US taxpayers as of 1/26/12. Instead of paying us back they're using it to bail out part of Europe.

2/28/12, "Reports: Peugeot to raise $1.34B as part of GM buying 7 percent stake in French automaker," MLive, MichiganLive, M. Wayland

"General Motors Co. is reportedly close to purchasing a 7 percent stake in PSA Peugeot Citroen in an effort to help its struggling European operations.

According to numerous media outlets, the Paris-based carmaker could announce as soon as this week plans to sell a stake of its operations to the Detroit-based company as part of a development alliance."...

"Feb. 28, Bloomberg News:

A “person familiar with the situation” told the Wall Street Journal Tuesday that the alliance plans to raise about €1 billion ($1.34 billion) in connection with the reported alliance, which would be worth up to €250 million based on Peugeot's market capitalization of €3.58 billion....

Executives at GM have consistently said that drastic changes are coming this year to GM Europe, which lost $747 million last year."...

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Comments at MLive:

"sparkenator

This investment in Peugeot is called a development alliance by GM. Three years ago the US taxpayers bailed out GM now they are going to try to bail out a little part of Europe by investing in Peugeot GM is losing money in Europe because their giant subsidiary, Opel,( Buick Regal ) is caught up in Europe’s financial mess , I don’t’ see how the Peugeot deal is going to help that situation."

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"Independent Joe

Looks like GM is back to their old ways. What a surprise."

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"Michael Wayland, author

Sparkenator:

Numerous analysts feel the same way. They say both companies are in too much of a mess in Europe to help one another. Since 1999, GM Europe has lost $12.4 billion.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2012/02/analysts-gm-peugeot-linkup-wont-fix-gm-europes-losses/1#.T04hg4fOV2A

Thanks for reading and commenting."

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1/26/12, "Report: Taxpayers still owed $133B from bailout," AP, via Fox News

"Companies that were bailed out during the financial crisis still owe U.S. taxpayers nearly $133 billion. Treasury's plans to recoup that money have been slowed by the volatile stock market and weakness among smaller banks.

Some of the money will never be recovered.

That's the conclusion of the acting inspector general for the government's financial bailout. Some bailout programs, like the effort to reduce home foreclosures, will last as late as 2017, the inspector general said. Those programs could cost an additional $50 billion or more.

Among the largest bailed-out companies, American International Group Inc. still owes taxpayers around $50 billion, General Motors Co. owes about $25 billion and Ally Financial Inc. about $12 billion.

The 371 banks that still owe money include Regions Financial Corp., which owes $3.5 billion; Zions Bancorporation, $1.4 billion; Synovus Financial Corp., $967.9 million; Popular Inc., $935 million; First Bancorp of San Juan, Puerto Rico, $400 million; and M&T Bank Corp., $381.5 million.

After the 2008 financial crisis, Congress authorized $700 billion for the bailout of financial companies and automakers, called the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. About $413 billion was lent. So far, the government has recovered about $318 billion, or about 77 percent of it.

"TARP is not over," Christy Romero, the acting IG, said in a statement."...

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3/2/12, "GM laying off 1300 due to low Volt sales," Washington Examiner, J. Gehrke

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