GM Admits It Lied About Federal Stimulus Package's Job Creation

First, let’s get something out in the open. The Detroit Free Press’ story on the jobs impact of Uncle Sam’s Motown mega-order forgets to mention one salient fact. As TTAC reported back in June, one-third of the 17,600 vehicles ordered from Chrysler, Ford and GM were/are/will be assembled outside the United States. Any article about the order’s effects on American jobs should begin with that fact, which this one has. Surprise! The federal fleet sailing to The Big Three’s rescue did no such thing for American autoworkers. “The overriding purpose of the stimulus was to jump-start the economy and create jobs, though Obama never claimed the vehicle purchases would create jobs. While the latest reports from stimulus recipients show all three carmakers getting orders totaling $270 million so far, job creation from the purchases was nil.” Don’t you just love it when the media pre-apologizes for the President? How about when a major manufacturer lies about its federal blessing to please its federal taskmasters?

In its report, GM initially said the $88 million it had received to date for 5,279 vehicles shipped was responsible for creating or retaining more than 105 jobs.

But the company told the Free Press last week that, as was the case with the other automakers, employment actually “remained static” and the order was incorporated into regular production.

“The government asked us to attach a number of employees to fulfill the order,” said GM spokesman Greg Martin. “The bigger and more important picture is that regardless of where vehicle orders come from, the line continues to run and people continue to work.”

We lied, but the bigger picture is that it doesn’t matter. Riiiiiight. It’s the perfect set-up for the nationalized automaker’s financial results, released tomorrow.