Wall St. the big loser in GM deal, GOP lawmaker laments

The real loser in President Obama’s decision to offer a $30 billion lifeline to General Motors is Wall Street and corporate America, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) lamented on Monday.

“We’re real concerned that when you have government control over corporations, this is inevitable,” the second-term Republican lawmaker said in an interview with Bloomberg News. “You put political allies — in this case, labor unions — ahead of other people. And they’re getting preferential treatment better than unsecured bondholders.”

GM’s investors have received disparate treatment under the company’s restructuring, Lamborn said, that would discourage private investment in the future.

“When bondholders are not given the treatment that they should be getting under their contracts that they had signed, they’re basically being bludgeoned into agreeing to a bad deal,” he explained. “Indeed, all of corporate America is going to suffer from this bad precedent.”

Lamborn also ridiculed the smaller vehicles GM plans to produce as part of its deal with the government for assistance.

“Will we getting these little, glorified electric golf carts posing as cars that are being made that no one wants to buy?” he asked rhetorically.