General Motors Saved Thanks to President Obama’s Auto Bailout

After invest­ing $50 bil­lion of Tax payer’s money to save the trou­bled auto maker, the Obama Admin­is­tra­tion reduced its hold­ings in Gen­eral Motors on Thurs­day from 61 per­cent to 36 per­cent when 400 shares of the auto maker began trad­ing on the U.S stock mar­ket. The Pres­i­dent called the bailout a suc­cess, say­ing some of the “tough deci­sions that we made” dur­ing the finan­cial cri­sis were begin­ning to pay off.

“Today, one of the tough­est tales of the reces­sion took another big step toward becom­ing a suc­cess story,” Obama told reporters at the con­clu­sion of the new GM stock’s first day of trad­ing as an ini­tial pub­lic offering.

“Amer­i­can tax­pay­ers are now posi­tioned to recover more than my admin­is­tra­tion invested in GM, and that’s a good thing,” Obama said, speak­ing shortly after the 4 p.m. mar­ket close.

Not only are Amer­i­cans posi­tioned to recover their invest­ment, but accord­ing to reports by The Cen­ter for Auto­mo­tive Research, more than 1.4 mil­lion jobs were saved because of these auto bailouts.

Those who held old GM stock were essen­tially wiped out when the com­pany filed for bankruptcy.
Obama says there were many “doubters and naysay­ers” when his admin­is­tra­tion stepped in to help GM. He said the tough deci­sions his admin­is­tra­tion made are pay­ing off.

“We are finally begin­ning to see some of these tough deci­sions that we made in the midst of the cri­sis pay off,” the pres­i­dent said.

The stock, which opened at $33 a share, rose sharply in its first min­utes of buy­ing then set­tled back, clos­ing at $34.19.


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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Thursday celebrated the return of a reborn General Motors to the U.S. stock market, saying it shows some of the "tough decisions that we made" during the financial crisis were beginning to pay off.
"American taxpayers are now positioned to recover more than my administration invested in GM, and that's a good thing," Obama said.
The government's $50 billion taxpayer-backed rescue of the venerable automaker includes more than $36 billion injected by the Obama administration and more than $13 billion approved by Obama's predecessor, President George W. Bush.
Trading the new stock is a milestone for both the corporation and for the Obama administration.
The stock rose sharply at first, rising to nearly $36 per share from the $33 price GM set for the initial public offering before pulling back and closing at $34.19.
The trading – more than 400 million GM shares traded hands during its debut on the Big Board – helped reduce the federal government's stake in the company from 61 percent to about 36 percent.
For the U.S. to break even on its investment, it must sell its remaining stake for about $50 a share.
Obama said estimates indicate that actions by his administration helped save more than 1 million jobs across 50 states.
The Center for Automotive Research estimated that aid to GM and Chrysler saved more than 1.1 million jobs in 2009 and 314,000 jobs this year. The third Big Three automaker, Ford Motor Co., did not accept federal assistance and stayed out of bankruptcy.