Surprise! The Treasury underestimated how much money taxpayers would lose on the auto bailout by 15 percent or $21.7 billion. That's right, they missed the estimate by $21.7 billion.
The Treasury Department says in a new report the government expects to lose more than $25 billionon the $85 billion auto bailout. That's 15 percent higher than its previous forecast.
In a monthly report sent to Congress on Friday, the Obama administration boosted its forecast of expected losses by more than $3.3 billion to almost $25.1 billion, up from $21.7 billion in the last quarterly update.
The report may still underestimate the losses. The report covers predicted losses through May 31, when GM's stock price was $22.20 a share.
On Monday, GM stock fell $0.07, or 0.3 percent, to $20.47. At that price, the government would lose another $850 million on its GM bailout.
The government still holds 500 million shares of GM stock and needs to sell them for about $53 each to recover its entire $49.5 billion bailout. At the current price, the Treasury would lose more than $16 billion on its GM bailout.
The new numbers come on the heels of President Obama proclaiming we should bailout every industry to have "success" like the auto industry. The only place where a $25 billion loss is counted as a success for taxpayers is in the Obama White House.
“I said, I believe in American workers, I believe in this American industry, and now the American auto industry has come roaring back,” he said. “Now I want to do the same thing with manufacturing jobs, not just in the auto industry, but in every industry.
