From Allison H, over at Facebook, comes this article from George F. Will detailing Greece, General Motors, and our American economy.  It’s a great read and is sure to be of interest to those of you who follow the numbers.

Please to enjoy.  [bold emphasis at end of article is mine]

From Investors Business Daily:

To understand the pertinence to America of events in Greece, notice General Motors’ most recent misbehavior.

A television commercial featuring CEO Ed Whitacre demonstrates the institutional murkiness and intellectual dishonesty that result when the line between public and private sectors disappears.

In the commercial, Whitacre says GM has “repaid our government loan in full.” Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., noted that GM used government funds to pay back the government: It “simply transferred $6.7 billion from one taxpayer-funded TARP account to another.”

Government Motors

The government still owns 60.8% of GM’s common equity, and the Congressional Budget Office projects that the government will lose about $34 billion of the $82 billion of TARP funds dispersed to the automotive industry.

When Ryan and two colleagues asked the Treasury Department for clarification, they got this careful reply: “Treasury has never suggested that the loan repayment represented a full return of all government assistance.”

A Treasury press release did say “GM Repays Treasury Loan in Full.” The loan is, however, a small part of taxpayer exposure. Under crony capitalism, when government and corporate America merge, both dissemble.

Now American taxpayers also own a little bit of a small nation. They provide the U.S. contribution of 17% of the assets of the International Monetary Fund, which is giving Greece $39 billion (the IMF also is contributing $321 billion to a “stabilization” fund for other euro zone nations with debt problems).

So the U.S. government, which would borrow 42 cents of every dollar it spends under the president’s 2011 budget, is borrowing to rescue Greece and others from the consequences of their borrowing.

Read the entire article here.  Long Live the Republic, unless we go bankrupt first.