Remember how President Obama promised taxpayers that the government would recover most or all of the billion it handed General Motors during the 2008 $85 billion auto industry bailout?

“We expect taxpayers will get back all the money my administration has invested in GM. Over time, that is going to be extraordinarily significant. It means we stood up this industry and you know what, we got a return," Obama told Detroit autoworkers in August.

Not going to happen.

Although the Treasury Department recovered $13.5 billion when it sold 45 percent of its GM shares for $33 each, a report by the Congressional Oversight Panel now says the sale “locked in” billions of dollars in losses because the break-even price for taxpayers is $44.59 a share.

Note to Tim Geithner: It’s buy low, not sell low.