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Chrysler repays, but loss still expected

Alisa Roth May 18, 2010
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Chrysler repays, but loss still expected

Alisa Roth May 18, 2010
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How much money did the government get back?

Chrysler paid the government $1.9 billion dollars. Back in January 2009, when things were really bad in the auto industry, the government lent Chrysler $4 billion to try to keep it out of bankruptcy. This is a repayment on that loan. Just to clarify, though, this is Chrysler Holding, the “old Chrysler” that paid the money back. So, this is not the new Chrysler now owned by Fiat and still making cars.

Will taxpayers get the rest of our money back?

Hate to break it to you, but this is probably it — $1.9 billion out of $4 billion. The loan actually went into default when Chrysler declared bankruptcy. And when the Treasury Department accepted the money yesterday, it said it considered this a full payment.

How much of a beating did taxpayers take for bailing out Detroit?

Overall probably something like $34 billion. So that includes the bailout for Chrysler and GM. Exactly how much we lost will depend somewhat on how much the government gets back when it sells its shares of the GM and Chrysler once they go public again.

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