Candidates on both sides of the political fence, especially during this presidential election cycle, have been trying to make hay out of the U.S. government bailouts of Chrysler and GM.
At a speech to the National Automobile Dealers Association convention yesterday, former President George W. Bush said the reality of the severe economic downturn led him to his decision to begin the bailouts of GM and Chrysler.
From Bloomberg News:
“I didn’t want there to be 21 percent unemployment,” Bush said in a speech yesterday to cap the annual National Automobile Dealers Association convention, attended by more than 20,000 people. “I didn’t want to gamble. I didn’t want history to look back and say, ‘Bush could have done something but chose not to do it.’ And so I said, ‘no depression.’”
Bloomberg reports the Bush administration loaned GM and Chrysler $17.4 billion "before Barack Obama’s administration expanded the rescue of the companies to $62 billion."
The Detroit Free Press reports that Bush said he believed GM and Chrysler were mismanaged and should pay for their own problems...
"But sometimes circumstances get in the way of philosophy," Bush said. "I would make the same decision again."
Chrysler repaid its loans last year, and GM has repaid around $23 billion, but the U.S. Government still holds around a quarter of GM stock.
