Chevy Volt a Failure - GM to Layoff 1,300

From 2002. Who was President then?

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/autos/2002-12-18-suv-tax-break_x.htm

WASHINGTON — Karl Wizinsky wasn't thinking about buying a new vehicle, and certainly not a big SUV. So why is there a brand-new $47,000 Ford Excursion sitting in his driveway?

He was able to write off $32,000 of the purchase price as a business expense.

"We really did it because it was a pretty hefty deduction," said Wizinsky, a health care consultant in Novi, Mich.

At the same time the tax code sanctions $30,000 write-offs for SUVs, prospective purchasers of a fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles qualify for a relatively small $4,000 tax credit.

 

I have no problem with that. Give me a flat rate, a deduction for charitable giving and lets go from there.

And I don't like tax writeoffs for any vehicle. Be it SUV or glorified golf cart.

The tax code is far too complex, larded with various payoffs to constituencies from both the left and the right. When my wife and I, who aren't plutocrats, need to go to an accountant to get our taxes done, that's a serious problem.

 

Treasury to sell GM stake. Be interesting to see if it breaks even, even by the Treasury's accounting, i.e.,

"Unlike the A.I.G. rescue, however, the government’s wind-down of its G.M. bailout is expected to lose money. The Treasury Department’s break-even pricepoint is generally estimated at about $53 a share, following the car maker’s I.P.O.

But the Treasury Department has long argued that the auto makers’ bailout was always expected to be unprofitable, offset by both the A.I.G. rescue and the bank recapitalization program."

dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/treasury-to-sell-g-m-stake-within-15-months/?hp

 

They want to get out at the lower capital gains tax rate. Smart play.

 

Hmmm. Our burgeoning Socialist movement seems to be stalling out ...

 

Won't come anywhere close to breaking even.

Funny how they waited until after the election to take that bath.

 

Again:


"But the Treasury Department has long argued that the auto makers’ bailout was always expected to be unprofitable, offset by both the A.I.G. rescue and the bank recapitalization program."

 

It's an end of year tax sale. They can offset their gain on AIG with loss on GM. Smart use of the tax code.

 

Treasury declares a $22.7 billion "profit" from AIG sale.

money.cnn.com/2012/12/11/news/economy/aig-treasury-sale/index.html


So. Was the bailout a break-even?

 

Exactly. We don't want anyone accusing the Obama administration of having an underlying profit motive in its Great Socialism Experiment.