Last month, the U.S. Treasury announced the launch of a trading plan to sell the rest of its stake in General Motors (NYSE: GM ) by early 2014. This followed a decision by GM last December to buy back 200 million shares from the Treasury Department for $5.5 billion. By the end of this month, the Treasury will own just 14% of GM stock, down from a whopping 61% in 2009.

We are thus closing in on the end of the government ownership era for GM in the United States. The "Government Motors" tag has stuck to GM like a barnacle, and the resulting blow to GM's reputation has driven many former customers to rivals like Ford (NYSE: F ) , and even foreign automakers like Hyundai and Kia.

Most Americans who opposed the auto bailouts in 2008 and 2009 have not forgiven either the government or the automakers for what they see as an intrusion by the government into the free market and the normal bankruptcy process. Recent articles about GM here at the Fool have often inspired multiple comments from our Foolish readers to the effect that they would never consider buying a GM vehicle again because of the bailouts.