Should Taxpayer Owned Companies Really Be Handing Out Record Bonuses?

General Motors Co.'s decision to pay bonuses to its employees — including roughly $4,000 each to union workers — is eliciting predictable outrage.

How can an automaker partly owned by American taxpayers have the gall to pay bonuses to salaried and hourly employees when the company still owes the U.S. Treasury something north of $25 billion? Easily, if you grasp the premise that an effective tool for successfully completing the exit from government ownership is rewarding people for the kind of strong performance that makes such an outcome more likely.