General Motors presented Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a Corvette following 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 exposure the Galarraga Corvette brought to GM, from 714 TV shots to 151,000 print publications and countless Web entries.
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 action they take should advance them in that direction.” The U.S. government currently owns 61 percent of GM following the auto bailout disaster, 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 Armando Galarraga might very well have deserved praise for the method in which he conducted himself following the blown call by umpire Jim Joyce that cost Galarraga a perfect game. Joyce later showed contrition and also had said that he had made a mistake with the call. In spite of the blown call, Armando Galarraga’s game was perfect.
GM claims it repaid the loan, but it did that with another bailout loan
Rep. Issa isn’t the only one who noticed that GM aired a TV commercial in May 2010 that claimed it had already ended up paying back its government bailout loan. Crain’s reported 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 that came from the Galarraga Corvette can help them take care of that loan on the books? That kind of brand value exposure works just as well as any other asset when it comes to repaying debt.
Discover a lot more data 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/
