News: GM goes from bad to worse despite Obama bailout

[Rob]

Interesting article. Thoughts? Opinions?

GM goes from bad to worse despite Obama bailout

August 21, 2012 | 8:00 pm
The Washington Examiner
Michael Barone, Senior Political Analyst

Readers with long memories may recall that Charles E. Wilson, president of General Motors and nominee for secretary of defense, got into trouble when he told a Senate committee, "What is good for the country is good for General Motors, and what's good for General Motors is good for the country."

That was in 1953, and Wilson was trying to make the point that General Motors was such a big company -- it sold about half the cars in the United States back then -- that its interests were inevitably aligned with those of the country as a whole.

Things are different now. General Motors' market share in the U.S. is below 20 percent. It has gone through bankruptcy and exists now thanks to a federal bailout. But Barack Obama seems to think that it's as closely aligned with the national interest as Charles E. Wilson did.

...the government still owns 500 million shares of GM, 26 percent of the total. It needs to sell them for $53 a share to recover its $49.5 billion bailout. But the stock price is about $20 a share, and the Treasury now estimates that the government will lose more than $25 billion if and when it sells...

Full Story: GM goes from bad to worse despite Obama bailout | WashingtonExaminer.com

 

[Huskerman]

Hmmmm.....seems to me Obamas failure to get the ecomomy back online by drowning us in more govt spending is going to bite him in the ass like it has everyone else.....I did however agree that the bailout of GM would in the long run prove to be the right move, but for car companies to flurish people have to have some income to spend on fun stuff and that just isn't happening right now nor will it if the current administration stays in power.....(these are my opinions)

I think GM has some great products at this time and that they will be ready when eventually things get turned around.......

 

[catbert]

Bush did the bailout. Obama was stuck with the details. The bailout was one of very few things I agreed with old' W.

 

[i10fwy]

The price of GM stock and Ford stock currently do not reflect actual value and IMHO are a fantastic "buy" The troubles in Europe are the drudge on the market lets just hope Europe can stay afloat otherwise the price of GM stocl will be the least of our worries. :ugh

We will get our money back! It's was a good investment

i10fwy

 

[67vet]

What is out there that will make GM stock go up as much as they say it needs to?

Also, the statement "The UAW should have done more" is a little late in the negotiations. :ugh

 

[Hib Halverson]

Bush did the bailout. Obama was stuck with the details. The bailout was one of very few things I agreed with old' W.

I'm not sure that's really accurate.

The GM "bailout" was governmental arrogance which began with the lame-duck Bush administration and the Republican Congress running scared then catering to voters up in arms by designing the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP...aptly named because a "tarp" is something you put over a mess to cover it up), followed by President Obama, mainly through his Treasury Department, bending or just flat disregarding the rule of law to execute TARP, a program which had its basis in political considerations rather than established contract law and sound economic procedures.

During the end of one and the beginning of another administration, Uncle Sam's bailout broke whatever rules got in the way of its agenda and it deceived the public though misinformation and factual omission. We (at least some of us, hopefully) are a law abiding society and the GM bailout should be troublesome to us not just for the billions of taxpayers money used (most of it which will assuredly be lost) but also for the willful disregard of the law by our elected officials.

Bush 43, Obama, Secretaries Paulson and Geithner and the "car czar" Steven Rattner are all to blame, but the biggest losers are we voters who allowed it all to happen.

 

[6 Shooter]

Another view...

General Motors Is Headed For Bankruptcy -- Again - Forbes

 

[warren s]

The deed is done and the great bailout is water under the bridge now.

GMs product line was way more attractive to potential buyers as long as there wasn't the level of competition that there has been in the last 20 years.
Having a product line with mediocre quality and an apathetic dealer network may have worked in the past but not now.

Some things never changed.