If Drudge had not linked to this Detroit News story by David Shepardson on his website today, there would have been no national media attention to news of the massive subsidy given primarily to labor unions:

The U.S. Treasury has booked a $9.7 billion loss on its $49.5 billion bailout of General Motors Co. on the sale of nearly all of its shares it received as part of its $49.5 billion bailout.

In a quarterly report to Congress Tuesday, the Special Inspector General overseeing the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program bailout fund disclosed that the Treasury had realized a significant loss on its sale of most of its 60.8 percent stake in GM. Through Sept. 30, Treasury sold 811 million shares of the 912 million shares it received in the automaker as part of its 2009 bankruptcy restructuring.

The taxpayers' ownership stake in the Detroit-based automaker - swapped for more than $40 billion in loans, was initially 60.8 percent, but is now down to about 7 percent, the Treasury said. "Because the common stock sales have all taken place below Treasury's break even price, Treasury has so far booked a loss of $9.7 billion on the sales," the report said.

Given how far GM stock is below breakeven, it seems likely that the loss to taxayers, primarily to insulate labor unions from the impact of their folly in demanding 95% pay for workers who were laid off and lavish fringe benefits, making American cars uncompetitive with German, Japanese, and other foreign makes, will exceed the nice round figure of ten billion buck.

Hat tip: Clarice Feldman