Health & Fitness
General Motors Workers Anticipate Bonuses While Former Investors Are Left to Eat Cake
Stockholders and Bondholders in the "Old GM" Remain Wiped Out While the Company is Awash in Cash
With the news that General Motors workers can expect bonuses of as much as $7,000 early next year, I wonder how stockholders and bondholders of the "old GM" feel.
President Obama boasts of his rescue of the American auto industry. Assuming for the moment that it was appropriate for the government to take over a private business and to oversee its reorganization, was it just and honorable to wipe out those that purchased the stock and bonds of the company, including individuals that depended on dividend and interest payments from their "safe" investment?
The fact that General Motors is now flush with bonus cash demonstrates that its government takeover should have looked out not only for those that provide labor to the company, but those that placed their capital at risk. Former GM investors had the rug puled out from them, a raw deal.
