Chrysler paid the government a loan guarantee fee, and repaid the guaranteed loans early. In the end there was no direct cost to taxpayers.
IIRC the government also made hundreds of millions by exercising stock warrants given as part of the bailout package. The cost was passed on to Chrysler stockholders in the form of dilution.
Chrysler had to renegotiate its existing debt. Creditors wrote off substantial sums in order to avoid even greater losses in bankruptcy.
Sure, Chrysler screwed up, and by the cold logic of capitalism shareholders and management deserved to feel some pain. They did. But the bailout kept thousands of workers and dozens of plants in productive use.
A house produces nothing. It is valuable for its use as shelter, but a 3000sf house serves the same purpose whether it costs $1 million or $400,000.
