Obrigado, America!

When you pull your tax forms out of your mailbox, don't forget to check for that thank you card from Brazil:

SAN PAULO -- General Motors plans to invest $1 billion in Brazil to avoid the kind of problems the U.S. automaker is facing in its home market, said the beleaguered car maker.

According to the president of GM Brazil-Mercosur, Jaime Ardila, the funding will come from the package of financial aid that the manufacturer will receive from the U.S. government and will be used to "complete the renovation of the line of products up to 2012."

"It wouldn't be logical to withdraw the investment from where we're growing, and our goal is to protect investments in emerging markets," he said in a statement published by the business daily Gazeta Mercantil.

While one can hardly blame GM for investing that government bounty in a place where it can do the most good, the fact that that place is not here ought to make it quite clear to Americans that the problem their money is going to solve is not necessarily the one they signed up to pay for.

(hat tip: Mish)