Bunch of damned liars. They owe me a car.

[CoolBreeze]

From the Wall Street Journal

A top Republican says General Motors’ announcement this week that it will repay its federal loans early is “nothing more than an elaborate TARP money shuffle.”

In a letter to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa fumes that the source of the funds for the $4.7 billion repayment is not GM earnings, but rather a Treasury escrow account. He chides the company and the administration for suggesting in recent statements that the money is coming from GM earnings.

A new GM television ad features the company’s government-appointed chairman, boasting about its loan repayment. “We want to make this a company all Americans can be proud of again,” Whitacre says in the ad. “That’s why I’m here to announce we have repaid our government loan in full, with interest five years ahead of the original schedule.”

Grassley writes that GM’s early repayment of the federal loan is aimed at diverting attention from another uncomfortable issue – the big break the car company would get on a proposed tax to recoup TARP losses. GM is expected to generate some of the biggest losses in the TARP program, but it won’t have to pay any money under the so-called TARP tax the Obama administration wants to impose on large financial institutions.

Treasury and GM officials don’t dispute that the money to repay the loan is coming from TARP funds. But they said that’s been clearly disclosed.

A GM spokesman said the company is paying back the loan early “because we’re making great progress and we have a great line up of vehicles that are selling very well.”

A Treasury spokesman said, “It’s been public knowledge that GM would use these funds to repay the loan if it did not otherwise need them for expenses.”He added: “The important fact is that GM has determined that it does not need the funds to pay expenses and can repay the loan early. That is a positive sign for the company, and a great development for the taxpayer.”