Even conservative economists have a hard time faulting the $80 billion auto-bailout, which wrapped up at the end of last year with a loss of around $9 billion for taxpayers but gains of hundreds of thousands of jobs and economic growth both directly at automobile companies and the scores of smaller manufacturers who supply them.

“If we don’t bail out the auto manufacturers you could argue we don’t get any of that growth,” said James Pethokoukis, an economic scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

Does Obama deserve credit for the economy?

US citizens charged with aiding attempted Gambia coup