Posted on 05/07/2009 5:52:59 AM PDT by John W
DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Corp said it burned through $10.2 billion in the first quarter as it failed to cut costs fast enough to offset a sharp decline in global sales and was kept afloat by a federal bailout.
Revenue dropped by almost half to $22.4 billion as the company cut production by about 900,000 vehicles and tried to run down costly inventories on dealer lots in the United States and Europe.
Chief Financial Officer Ray Young said there was evidence consumers were scared away from GM cars and trucks because of concern the automaker was headed for bankruptcy.
"You could not offset the revenue implosion that we experienced here," Young told reporters following release of the quarterly results on Thursday.
He said GM still hoped to complete a debt restructuring out of court but was ready for bankruptcy if that proved necessary. He said GM was pressing ahead with contingency plans for a quick bankruptcy process, drawing on the experience of Chrysler LLC, which filed for bankruptcy last week.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
How much are the “ taxpayers going to lose”?
Government Motors, with its new CEO, Barry Soetoro, will perform like any other government agency: _______________.
I started to put in the adverb, but you can supply your own.
Not sure the search function is working properly. Searched for the title, GM and General Motors and nothing came up which is impossible to believe. Searched again after posting-still nothing.
Socialists and Unions are great at burning through other people's cash.
Let GM declare bankruptcy and restructure. The first order of business should be new contracts with the unions.
I, for one, am not interested in buying a Government Motors 0bama-mobile. Maybe ACORN will make some flett purchases (with OUR money!).
They were scared away by the prospect of Government and UAW ownership (rightful owners???).
You are going to lose the entire domestic auto industry in bankruptcy...already suppliers are on the ropes. Both Ford and the transplants are stocking up on now more expensive parts because they think many suppliers will go bankrupt in this process. Those of us in manufacturing understand why bankruptcy was never a good option for this industry...restructuring out of court would work and cost less in the end...it’s a crap shoot in bankruptcy.
My husband’s plant is already on the ropes because of supplier issues and it will get worse. As for GM burning through cash of course this is the case. No one will buy a car from a company they believe may go under as I have stated many times. Obama really screwed this up when he supported bankruptcy for Chrysler and GM. There are so many jobs at stake here...not just the suppler and plants either. Steel, tech, paper...the list goes on. There are between eight and ten related jobs associated with one domestic auto job...we are looking at the loss of perhaps 8-10 million jobs if we lose the domestic auto industry...we could even lose Ford due to supplier bankruptcies and even the transplants. If this happens, a recession could very well turn into a depression.
The Obama socialist economy: Bad economic news = Dow Up.
An yet, in pre-market, GM stock is up over 4%.
As a new current shareholder in the GM Corp, due to TARP, it is my vote that we fire the one who made the idiotic decision to pump additional money into this company.
Is there any protection against FIAT just draining our money and asking for, and probably getting more and then closing the Chrysler plants? The dims are so busy throwing our money away, that there doesn’t seem to be many, or any, restrictions.
GM:
fail.
Remember GM paid Fiat $2 billion to make a joint venture with the firm. Then GM paid another $2 billion to get out of the deal...
Given the government's and the UAW's position in this mess, I could see myself rooting for Fiat to do just that.
In the “old” days, when “management” made a screw up of that magnitude, they were history. These days, they either get a huge bonus, or at least a Golden Parachute that sets them up for life. The Directors, and to a lesser extent, the stockholders are responsible for letting that happen. My sympathy is somewhat lacking.
The subsidy really isn’t to GM or Chrysler management.
It’s to the UAW.
That’s who the Baraqqis are sending the money to.
If the GOP had any brains, they might sieze on the fact that taxpayers are gonna subsidize the retirement payments and platinum benefits of hundreds of thousands of union members and beneficiaries.
GM should import some management talent from Fiat. They obviously know how to make money...
When the UAW owns the company and it loses billions, will liens against the assets of the UAW to secure the incurred debts be appropriate? If so, they may need to declare themselves bakrupt to protect themselves from losing everything thanks to taking over worthless companies which are hemorrhaging money!
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