A little late today

Here is why:

September 29, 2009

Mr. Thomas A. Schatz
President, Citizens Against Government Waste

1301 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Suite 1075

Washington, DC 20004

Dear Mr. Schatz:

On behalf of the members of our organization, those that have signed our petition and the Taxpayers of the United States of America, I request that CAGW join with us to eliminate what is a waste of Taxpayer dollars by allowing the Pontiac Brand to be retired and serviceable factories to be closed or mothballed.

General Motors has received $80 Billion in Taxpayer’s funds which has resulted in the Taxpayers owning 61% of General Motors. Whether these payments were a waste can be debated for a long time and is not the point of this letter. What is to the point is that General Motors and the Treasury Department have elected to close Pontiac as part of the GM offerings. We at Savingpontiac.org believe GM should have jettisoned the Pontiac brand however we do not believe it should be closed down and thrown away.

The Taxpayers own the Plant facilities and the Brand (at least 61%). Saving Pontiac.org believes that with a Treasury department loan of up to $4 Billion to a New Pontiac, the Company, if run by profit, quality and customer oriented managers, could provide between 20,000 and 40,000 direct and indirect jobs Now and return to the economy and the Taxpayers as much as $50 Billion over 5 years.

The true waste is to throw away the assets that the Taxpayers own and ignore the possible upside to the economy. While $4 billion seems like a great deal of money, in perspective it truly is very little. $4 Billion is 4% of the total the Government has committed and spent on the Automobile industry. It is 5% of the amount already put into GM. It is less than 1.5% of the unspent TARP funds. Finally the $4 Billion is 2 hundredths of 1% of the $19 Trillion that has been spent or committed to the Bailout (Newsweek 9/26/09).

It is for these reasons that we ask that your organization join with us to attempt to take these “shovel Ready” jobs and put Americans to work, today. What we ask is “why is it OK for our Government to dispose of these assets without Taxpayer acquiescence?” If there was a referendum today, how would Americans vote to use the asset that they own?

Thank you for your interest;

Ben Holcomb, Executive Director