U.S. Government Sells Last of GM Shares-- For a Loss of Billions

"Don't thank me all at once. Just fall to your knees in my presence and renounce all others in the name of the Light-bringer."

Oh goody...

From USA Today:

U.S. taxpayers no longer own any of automaker General Motors. The Treasury sold the last of its remaining 31.1 million GM shares today. It started with 500 million shares in 2010. 

The taxpayer loss on the GM bailout is $10.5 billion. The Treasury department said it recovered $39 billion from selling its GM stake, and had put $49.5 billion of taxpayer money directly into the GM bailout.  

The total bailout rises to $51 billion, including another $1.5 billion that Treasury put into programs to keep GM suppliers afloat and to make sure owners' warranties were honored, plus some into the old GMAC finance company that's now known as Ally — separate from a much larger Ally bailout. 

That $1.5 billion didn't go directly to GM, but was spent largely on its behalf.

Billions lost so that GM can resume posting losses and the car maker unions can continue to run up tabs and meddle in politics. What an accomplishment...