General Motors gave Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a Corvette straight after his near-perfect game. The 2010 Chevrolet Corvette convertible is worth $ 53,000, but as outlined by Crain’s Detroit Business, the media exposure the gesture brought to GM was worth approximately $ 9 million. A non-contracted study by research group Joyce Julius and Associates Inc. tracked the coverage the Galarraga Corvette brought to GM, from 714 TV shots to 151,000 print publications and countless Web entries.
Source for this article: Armando Galarraga Corvette gift from GM burns taxpayers
Taxpayers angered by Galarraga Corvette windfall
California Rep. Darrell Issa gave a critical voice to what many taxpayers are thinking after GM gave Galarraga the very generous Corvette gift. Issa’s spokesman Kurt Bardella told the New York Times that “Until GM has repaid the taxpayers in full for the money they have borrowed, each and every action they take should advance them in that direction.” The U.S. government owns 61 percent of GM right now, and because GM still owes taxpayers for its bailout investment, the Galarraga Corvette giveaway was quite inappropriate. Such is the case in spite of the fact that Armando Galarraga may have earned praise for the manner in which he conducted himself following the blown call by umpire Jim Joyce that cost Galarraga a perfect game. Joyce later admitted that he had made a mistake with the call. Galarraga’s game was perfect.
Although GM repaid the loan, they did it with one more bailout loan
Rep. Issa is not the only one who noticed that GM aired a TV commercial in May 2010 that claimed it had paid back its government bailout loan. It was reported by Crain’s that the fact is that GM was only able to do so because it took out an additional government auto bailout loan. Perhaps the $ 9 million windfall from the Galarraga Corvette can really help them to take care of that loan on the books? That kind of brand value publicity works just as well as any asset when it comes to repaying debt.
Find more details on this topic
Crain’s Detroit Business
crainsdetroit.com/article/20100609/FREE/100609856
Personal Money Store
personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2010/06/03/perfect-game-blown-call-joyce/
No comments:
Post a Comment