The NYT published a column by Edward Niedermayer, the editor of the Web site The Truth About Cars, which claimed that the government was unlikely to recoup much of its investment in General Motors. The piece dismisses the idea that GM stock could ever reach the $66.9 billion level needed to recoup the government’s investment: "Sorry, but that’s a pipe dream: G.M. has never been worth more than $57 billion, and that was in the salad days of 2000." In 2000, GM had a large debt both in the form of formal debt and more importantly in the form of liabilities for its workers pension and retiree health care benefits. It has been relieved of these liabilities by bankruptcy. This would make a huge difference in its share price given the same underlying level of profitability.
--Dean Baker
