This is not your grandfather’s Free Market!
CATO Institute didn’t think that filing the complaint against the GM with the FTC was a good idea.
Here’s what they said: The FTC and Those GM Ads
I agree with CEI on this one. GM needs to get knocked on its ass for this.
Let’s look at a response from CEI.
CEI’s FTC Complaint Against GM: A Response to Walter Olson
by Fred Smith
Over at Cato@Liberty, Walter Olson criticizes CEI’s filing of an FTC complaint against General Motors regarding a recent television advertisement by the company. GM’s ad stated, “we have repaid our government loan in full with interest five years ahead of the original schedule.”
Walter and CEI agree that since GM’s alleged loan “repayment” was financed not by the company’s privately-raised (non-coercive) capital but by a separate pot of government money, the GM ad was quite disingenuous. Since the FTC has a long history of jumping on private firms for similarly misleading ads, and since exposing hypocrisy is one of the most effective methods of undermining the Leviathan, CEI decided to petition the FTC to take action against GM for its deceptive ad.
When GM was bailed out by the U.S. government a year and a half ago, the company’s reputation took a severe hit. GM sales plummeted as taxpayers reacted with fury to the bailout. Indeed, as Ed Whitacre, GM’s CEO, noted in the TV ad: “A lot of Americans disagreed with giving GM a second chance. Quite frankly, I can respect that.” GM’s ads were intended to restore the company’s tarnished reputation, presumably in hopes that GM automobile sales would increase as a result. Had GM actually repaid its government loan in full, thereby reducing its fiscal burden on American taxpayers, such an announcement would have been welcome news to us (and, presumably, to Walter as well).
Truth, Lies and In Between 