Taxpayers Losers In Fiat-Chrysler Deal

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Investors Business Daily:

Bailed Out: Italian carmaker Fiat is going to buy the rest of Chrysler it doesn't already own. Is this what U.S. taxpayers bought when they were forced to keep the Big Three automaker alive?

 

Fiat said Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire "the 41.4616% of Chrysler Group" that it does not currently hold.

 

A day later Reuters reported that Fiat will now "gain full control of Chrysler" after a previous deal engineered by the Obama administration that let Fiat acquire a 58.5% stake in the soon-to-be-former Big Three automaker.

 

The final shares will be sold by a United Auto Workers union-controlled trust fund, which was given its stake after the White House stepped into the process.

 

The deal is expected to close by the end of January. But it won't end for U.S. taxpayers, who have already lost $10 billion on the General Motors bailout and will continue to lose money in future bailouts until Washington's klepto culture is changed by the ballot box.

 

Though not expensive by GM standards, the $12.5 billion Chrysler bailout will cost American taxpayers $1.3 billion.