Actually there are more than the Lokheed and Chrysler cases, but none of these were outright gifts, these were Government guarranteed loans. I do not know how well the Government did in the case off Lokheed, but in the case of Chrysler, the Government also had a stake which was sold later at quite nice profits. In both Lokheed and Chrysler, the intervention was done for National Security reasons, Lokheed was and is a major defense contractor, and Chrysler's failure would have thrown the tank building business into disarray, since Chrysler at the time had the program. The Government did not deem it necessary to prevent American Motors demise.
Oenn Central was another case where the government actually sunk some money in a private entreprise, but I think the Government lost (and is still losing) on this one. Penn did go under (or "restructured"), but a big subsidies were required, not just loans. One can of course point out that both in Europe and Jap[an, the railroad systems would not survive without government subsidies.
Zeev
Zeev |
