"Betting other people's money", "fair share", "different set of rules", etc.

General Motors(GM) shares fell to a fresh 2012 closing low of 19.57 on Monday. The stock hit 19 in mid-December, the lowest since the auto giant came public at $33 in November 2010 following its June 2009 bankruptcy.

Normally you might say, tough luck investors. But this is Government Motors. The Treasury still owns 26.5% of GM, or 500 million shares. Taxpayers are still out $26.4 billion in direct aid. Shares would have to hit $53 for the government to break even.

Those shares were worth about $9.8 billion as of Monday. That would leave taxpayers with a loss of $16.6 billion.

But that's not the full tally. Obama let GM keep $45 billion in past losses to offset future profits. Those are usually wiped out or slashed, along with debts, in bankruptcy. But the administration essentially gifted $45 billion in write-offs (book value $18 billion) to GM. So when GM earned a $7.6 billion profit in 2011 (more on that below), it paid no taxes.

Include that $18 billion gift, and taxpayers' true loss climbs to nearly $35 billion.

-- http://news.investors.com/article/616849/201207030826/gm-bailout-taxpayer-loss-rises-as-shares-fall.htm

As GM stock continues to hit new lows (the article was written before trading began today, and it is off its low), the Federal Government's loss on their investment continues to grow.  And it does not look like this investment will be dumped any time soon.

This is a clear case of making a bad bet with other people's money, namely, the taxpayers.  Obama has chastised banks for doing the same thing with money from willing investors.  Our government has, and continues to do so, with unwilling taxpayers.

It is time to end this losing bet.  That $10 billion can be better spent elsewhere (as could the much greater sum that has been depleted down to $10 billion).

On top of that, GM was given special privilege to carry forward prior losses (even after bankruptcy).  This means they paid zero taxes on $7.8 billion dollars in profit.  This would not be bad at all, if this effective rate were extended to all businesses, but it is not, it was given to a privileged business, whose success political benefits those in office.  Making matters worse, this is being overseen by a president that has shown an interest in people and businesses paying their fair share.  So long as other businesses are paying taxes, GM is not paying its fair share.

Finally, as I have just pointed out, GM is playing by a different set of rules than the rest of the people and businesses in America.  President Obama has used this phrase to attack many wealthy people and businesses, yet he fully supports the various different rules afforded to GM (government backing/investment, tax benefits, etc).

It is time to dump this investment...