Geithner Treasury Department Implicated in GM's TARP Shell Game

More Hope and Change…
General Motors started running big TV ads in late April bragging about how they paid their bailout money back, in full, ahead of schedule. The ads featured GM’s Obama-appoointed CEO Edward E. Whitacre Jr. boasting that the company had turned the corner. Unfortunately, the claims were not exactly true. GM was only able to repay its loan by dipping into another government account. The 6.7 billion General Motors paid back came from a different pot of bailout money.

Reason TV explained the GM payback plan:
How The Hell Did GM Pay Back Its Loans “in Full And Ahead of Schedule”? Well, It Didn’t.

What is even more troubling though, is that the Geithner Treasury Department supported GM’s fraudulent public relations blitz. Timothy Geithner’s Treasury Department released this statement on GM’s TARP repayment back on April 21:

No where in the statement was the Treasury Department clear about what Senator Grassley (R-IA) called the government-enabled “TARP money shuffle” – that GM borrowed from one taxpayer-funded account to pay off another taxpayer-funded account.

Even The New York Times weighed in on GM’s shell game and Treasury’s spin:

Of course, there is much joy in Mudville when a recipient of government aid repays its obligations. And it is also natural that the administration is keenly interested in reassuring taxpayers that losses on their bailout billions will be smaller than expected. Still, employing spin and selective disclosure is no way to raise taxpayers’ trust in our nation’s leadership.

In an interview, Mr. Grassley said the Treasury had stopped “denying” that G.M. used federal funds to repay its TARP loan, but the fact that Treasury hadn’t been upfront about it still troubled him.

“It emphasizes how misleading Treasury was and how misleading G.M. is as well,” said Mr. Grassley. “I hope Treasury learns its lesson, and that is: Tell it like it is, and if you tell it like it is you don’t get egg on your face.”

If the Pelosi-Reid Congress really wanted to clean up Washington they would investigate this fraud on the American public.
Don’t hold your breath.

Previously:
GM Pays Back $8 Billion of $52 Billion US Bailout
Outrage– GM Paid Back Bailout Money By Dipping Into Separate Bailout Pot (Video)
Reps Issa & Jordan Rip GM CEO For Coming “Dangerously Close to Committing Fraud” In New TV Ad
Paul Ryan Releases Video– Attacks Obama Administration on GM “Shell Game”

More… Mark Tapscott wonders: “Did Obama administration tell GM to lie about its TARP repayment?”

Photo of author
Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

You can email Jim Hoft here, and read more of Jim Hoft's articles here.

 

Thanks for sharing!