GM's Repayment Plan

In today's news, GM is going to begin repaying its government loan.

Sort of.

Most of GM's government debt, which came from the TARP, was converted to ownership in the New GM. So the government loans that GM is going to start repaying are only $6.7 Billion out of about $50 Billion it received in total.

GM is sitting on a cash pile of $42.6 Billion, according to the news story. That cash is essentially all bailout money, as GM is not yet generating net profit. So GM is going to use bailout money to pay off a bailout loan. Then, when the New GM sells stock, we the taxpayers will hopefully gain back some of the rest.

Hope. The watchword of the Obama administration.