After much hype and hyperbole, the GM IPO finally made it to market today. It started at $33.00 a share and soon rose about $2.00 over its initial price. Of course, most of the retail investors were shut out of the IPO. The people who Obama claims to want to protect, the people making under $250,000 per year, were unable to get any shares, unless they had an "in" with the right broker. Only the wealthy clients got the shares. Of course, you can always buy the shares from somebody "flipping" the stock on the same day.

The Treasury Department did an excellent job squeezing out as much money as possible for this once zombie car company. It is amazing what a business can do when the government sweeps in with tons of money, liquidates all your mistakes and guarantees your viability, until the market gets better. Too bad each taxpayer can't get his own bailout to wipe out all the stupid mistakes he has made over the years.

The government could easily have allowed each taxpayer to apply for up to 100 shares of GM at the IPO price. A simple, secure application process would have allowed everybody an equal chance to "get in" on the action, but I guess it was too much trouble. Instead the Obama administration allowed many of the TARP institutions like Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch to get millions of shares to allocate. We clearly need a Stock Czar to oversee the next government sponsored  IPO -- Fannie and Freddie?

Not to worry, all you frustrated taxpayers. You can always buy the stock in the secondary market, but you should wait until after the over-priced Chevy Volt fails, the unions go on strike, and the CEO gets a $100 million parachute after running the new GM into the ground.



The New Stock Czar