Mark to market the government’s bail-out efforts

Sir Jonathan Guthrie in reference to the bailout of General Motors writes that if he was a US taxpayer “I would tell Fritz that I wanted my $50bn back”, “An industry running on romance alone” July 23. And he is fully in his right to demand that… but only after he had paid his share of the tax of course.

Perhaps what the US should do is to turn around and give a 50% tax credit for anyone willing to pay 100% of face value for whatever the government has received from GM in return for that assistance and then let these papers trade to see what the market considers them to be worth.

Problem though is that government would never dare themselves to be marked to market that way.