GM posts first quarter profits of $3.2 billion

[boedicca]

The GM books are cooked due to the government allowing them to keep Net Operating Losses which in a normal bankruptcy proceeding, would have been voided.

But then again, our Government's specialty is Bogus & Misleading Accounting.

 

[rightwinger]

Great job by ObamaMotors...

I guess all the gloomy predictions from the right were wrong, and Obama proves he is the only adult in the room

 

[Cuyo]

Ok. General Motors’ Debt | FactCheck.org

Your article is a year old, and is completely consistent with what I've said.

Except you don't think that GM "owes" us any money. Simply hilarious! Thanks, I really did need a laugh this morning.

OK, your semantics are getting tiresome. Lets keep it binary.

Question: Does GM owe the government money?
Answer: NO. THEY. DO. NOT.

GM repaid their debts by selling stock. The government owns about 1/3rd of the new entity. By definition, they do not owe the government money.

Icahn bought a shit load of Yahoo stock a few years ago and took a bath on it. Does Yahoo owe Icahn money? Answer: NO. THEY. DO. NOT.

It's not that complicated, even for the incredibly dense.

Sidenote, from the excellent performance of GM, it appears the government will ultimately turn a profit. But again, that was not the motivation - The government is not Carl Icahn. The motivation was to keep the company in business to prevent catastrophic losses to our manufacturing sector. And yes, as deep as your desire to hate Obama runs, they were successful to that end.

 

[Zander]

Your article is a year old, and is completely consistent with what I've said.

Except you don't think that GM "owes" us any money. Simply hilarious! Thanks, I really did need a laugh this morning.

OK, your semantics are getting tiresome. Lets keep it binary.

Question: Does GM owe the government money?
Answer: NO. THEY. DO. NOT.

GM repaid their debts by selling stock. The government owns about 1/3rd of the new entity. By definition, they do not owe the government money.

Icahn bought a shit load of Yahoo stock a few years ago and took a bath on it. Does Yahoo owe Icahn money? Answer: NO. THEY. DO. NOT.

It's not that complicated, even for the incredibly dense.

Sidenote, from the excellent performance of GM, it appears the government will ultimately turn a profit. But again, that was not the motivation - The government is not Carl Icahn. The motivation was to keep the company in business to prevent catastrophic losses to our manufacturing sector. And yes, as deep as your desire to hate Obama runs, they were successful to that end.

Carl Icahn is a private investor who assumed a risk to make a profit. He gambled and lost. It's called Capitalism. The US Government is not a business or an individual. Your analogy is weak, a lot like GM!

But anyway, please feel free to spin in it anyway you like. The bottom line is simple - the US taxpayers gave GM over $50 billion. The taxpayers now own GM stock that is worth significantly less than the money they were given. That is a loss. To add insult to injury we are paying interest on the money that we borrowed so that we could save GM - a double loss.

PS- I was reluctantly in favor of the bailout based on the information we had at the time and I don't hate Obama. I did not like the way GM lied in their advertisements about "paying back the loans" and I don't like being continually lied to about their "excellent performance". They are a structurally weak company and will be lucky to survive. The chances of the US Government recouping their "investment" in GM are astronomically low.

 

[Spoonman]

General Motors posted a $3.2 billion profit in the first quarter, which was also its first full quarter as a public company. Sales were $36.2 billion, up $4.7 billion from the quarter a year ago, GM said.

Net income per share was $1.77. The profit was boosted by some one-time gains, particularly the sales of GM's stake in Delphi, its former parts unit, and its preferred shares of Ally Financial, the former GMAC captive finance unit. But even excluding those items, profit was $2 billion before interest and taxes, beating analysts expectations of about $1.6 billion and up from $1.7 billion in the quarter a year ago.

It was a fifth consecutive profitable quarter, if you include quarters before it became a public company last November.

General Motors posts $3.2 billion 1st-quarter profit - Drive On: A conversation about the cars and trucks we drive - USATODAY.com

So does this mean we can now get our money back?

 

[Leweman]

final total loss to tax payers a mere 34 billion dollars. No biggie.

 

[Spoonman]

final total loss to tax payers a mere 34 billion dollars. No biggie.

a drop in the bucket compared to the total blood letting team obama has given us