You Auto Know Better

U.S. loses $1.3 billion in exiting Chrysler

By Annalyn Censky July 21, 2011: 5:41 PM ET

http://money.cnn.com/2011/07/21/autos/chrysler_government_exit/index.htm

I was listening to Stephanie Miller this morning and heard a right-wing caller criticize the Clint Eastwood ad as a waste of tax payer dollars, since GM and Chrysler owe the government over a billion dollars. Stephanie and the others on air laughed at the caller, imitated his southern accent and claimed the auto industry paid back everything it owes. Unfortunately, the caller was correct that the bailout was over $1 billion in the negative. Where conservatives are wrong-in my opinion- is that the bailout was a waste of money.

If Chrysler and GM had not been rescued, the economic dominoes crashing Detroit and affecting all the employees and businesses connected to them would have been far more costly than a billion dollars. It's similar logic to that of rescuing Wall Street. The real question is what to do to make sure that no bank or car company is too big to fail in the future.