That (62 percent) was the number of dems in support of the government intervening in GM.
The U.S. owns 60% of GM, the Canadian government owns another 12%. Remember East Germany's Trabant and other vehicles built by the government-owned companies in the old Soviet Union? Blah. They were crap.
Right now, the government has $44 billion of GM's $62.4 billion debt. Not a lot of profit. But don't see why the gov't wouldn't profit eventually with the lion's share unless they plan to return ownership to the private sector once it's rebuilt. That was the original plan. But I'm not sure if that's the direction they'll take it. Right now GM is the fed's indentured servant.
It's just a different world out there. The government seems to have at least partial ownership of nearly everything: housing (FHA/Freddie/Fannie), banking (chunks of BOA, Wells, Chase, etc.), auto (GM, Chrysler, etc.)... etc