Remarkably similar to production and distribution of products in the old Soviet Union. The government's numbers never quite jibed with reality, but it didn't matter, everyone just "went along with it." Of course, this is the sort of thing that's normal with central planning.
Mark
Like Soviet planned industries, GM is already dead, with various subterfuges used to animate the corpse with government subsidies. When they end - and they will - GM will enter conventional bankruptcy.