GM’s Misleading Bailout Claims, Swine Flu and Financial “Reform” Legislation
General Motors boasts that it has repaid its government loans in full, despite having used other bailout funds to repay the initial loans.
The government continues to encourage people request H1N1 “swine flu” vaccines
despite the pending end of flu season.
The new financial reform bill gives the Federal Trade Commission power to regulate the internet.
1. LEGAL
General Motors boasts that it has repaid its government loans in full, despite having used other bailout funds to repay the initial loans.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Counsel Hans Bader on why CEI has filed a complaint against GM with the Federal Trade Commission.
“Most consumers would reasonably interpret GM’s ads as meaning both that GM has paid back all the money that it received from the government, and that those repayments were made with its own funds rather than with other government funds. Neither of these interpretations is accurate. [. . .] GM’s ads also leave the false impression that it is on the road to profitability, since it is now able to pay off its debts. [. . .] In reality, however, GM used taxpayer money to make the repayment — government bailout money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program — and it was still losing money at the time of the advertisement.”
2. HEALTH
The government continues to encourage people request H1N1 “swine flu” vaccines despite the pending end of flu season.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Scholar Michael Fumento on why it’s probably unnecessary to get the vaccine right now.
“The CDC reports that last week it had two positive infections of all strains of flu, down from 2,336 at height of the epidemic. Flu season officially ends May 15 and it takes about two weeks to build up immunity. So anybody getting the shot today . . . And yet, there’s a big red sign at my pharmacist admonishing people to get their swine flu vaccines and in several states that I know of health departments are running TV commercials to continue to scare people into using up those vaccines.”
3. FINANCE
The new financial reform bill gives the Federal Trade Commission power to regulate the internet.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Counsel Hans Bader on why the reform bill is a farce.
“The so-called financial ‘reform’ bill backed by President Obama gives federal bureaucrats new powers over the Internet, while doing nothing about the corrupt government-backed mortgage giants that spawned the financial crisis. [. . .] The bill does nothing to reform the government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, admits Obama’s Treasury Secretary, tax cheat Timothy Geithner, even though he admits that ‘Fannie and Freddie were a core part of what went wrong in our system.’ Worse, the Obama administration lifted the $400 billion limit on bailouts for Fannie and Freddie, so that they could continue to buy up junky mortgages at taxpayer expense, and showered their executives with $42 million in compensation.”