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By Jon Cassidy | Ohio Watchdog
The federal government now expects the auto industry bailout to cost more than $25 billion.
Taxpayers could have bought a million Camaros for the money given away to General Motors.
The news barely has made the radar in Ohio, where politicians celebrate the policy.
The Treasury Department’s monthly report to Congress filed Friday estimates that the taxpayer loss will be $25.05 billion, which is $3.3 billion higher than previous estimates, according to the Associated Press.
All but $1.3 billion of that amount is due to General Motors and its former finance arm, now called Ally Financial.
Between the May 31 closing prices used in the report and closing price Tuesday, GM stock had fallen another $1.99, representing an additional $1 billion loss to taxpayers.
While politicians in Ohio generally celebrate the bailout for saving local jobs, taxpayers have been skinned on the deal. For the price they’ve paid for nothing, taxpayers could have bought a million Chevrolet Camaros at base retail prices, and still had a $1 billion left over for upgrades.
For the same price, Ohio could double the size of its state government for a year.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, far from trying to distance himself from the boondoggle, has been advertising his support for it.
GM, meanwhile, is barely worth more than the cash the taxpayers have put into it. It has a market capitalization of $31.7 billion.
The bailout is estimated to have saved 113,000 jobs. That would work out to a cost of $221,000 per job.
