You and I have lost $1.3 billion on the Chrysler bailout, and the latest estimate of overall losses on the ill-advised auto bailout is $14 billion.
As part of the loan agreement, Chrysler was given until 2017 to return the bailout funds. If it had taken the full term, the interest accrued on the loans could have significantly reduced the government’s losses.
Overall, $1.3 billion will not be recovered from the bankrupt Old Chrysler, but Massad still called it a “major accomplishment.”
That’s because the government originally expected it would lose much more on the auto bailout. Initial estimates from the Congressional Budget Office in 2009, predicted the government would lose $40 billion on the overall auto bailout.
Now it estimates, by the time the $80 billion program is completely wrapped up, taxpayers will have lost $14 billion.
