BrianGarst.com

Heritage explains a GAO report indicating that GM and Chrylser are not done feeding at the public trough:

A recent GAO report warns that GM and Chrysler may need even more taxpayer money. This comes after GM and Chrysler received the overwhelming bulk of an $81 billion auto bailout under TARP.

The report finds GM and Chrysler may have unfunded liabilities for their pension programs. These obligations could have been terminated if these companies had filed for a typical bankruptcy. They were maintained, however, after the government assumed sponsorship during the most recent crisis. Should these companies be unprofitable, these unfunded liabilities will be unmet by GM and Chrysler as soon as 2013.

We’ve already made one bad decision in not forcing them to go through the proper bankruptcy process the first time.  There’s a fallacious psychological temptation to think that a prior bad investment means that one is committed to keep making more bad investments, but it’s not so.

In poker there’s a common phrase that goes, “don’t throw good money after bad.”  One wrong decision doesn’t force us to make yet more. It’s not too late to cut them off and start saving the public money.

Chrysler General Motors