RangerM Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 GM Posts First Quarterly Profit Since 2007 False profit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baggs32 Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 (edited) The USAToday version states that their fleet sales were 40% of their total sales for Q1 2010. That's up more than 20% from a year ago. How is this new and better? Edited May 17, 2010 by baggs32 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 GM needs all the blue sky they can paint in front of the IPO. I just hope the government gets all the taxpayers money back...soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
97svtgoin05gt Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 They are keeping pretty quiet on where that money is at this point. I work with a guy that just bought a Camaro SS who believes GM has paid back all the money. I didn't argue with him because I already do that about how great his car is, but there are some people who believe the Gov Mint money has been paid back. I believe they made a single payment but that is it to my knowledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickF1011 Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 They are keeping pretty quiet on where that money is at this point. I work with a guy that just bought a Camaro SS who believes GM has paid back all the money. I didn't argue with him because I already do that about how great his car is, but there are some people who believe the Gov Mint money has been paid back. I believe they made a single payment but that is it to my knowledge. They paid back their TARP loan with money from their government escrow account. Not exactly honest when in reality all they did was shuffle the balance from one mound of debt to another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 They paid back their TARP loan with money from their government escrow account. Not exactly honest when in reality all they did was shuffle the balance from one mound of debt to another. It's the same as you giving me $100 and telling me I only have to pay back $10 - so I pay you $10 out of the $100 and keep $90. It's about as close to lying as you can get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FordBuyer Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 It's the same as you giving me $100 and telling me I only have to pay back $10 - so I pay you $10 out of the $100 and keep $90. It's about as close to lying as you can get. The $50 billion + given to GMAC will never be paid back. GM still has some ownership stake in GMAC that now is called by another name. GM is really trying hard to cover its tracks with false advertising and changed names. Now they are trying to gain complete control of their old credit arm so that they can offer loans to subprime customers. And of course all the money given to their credit arm is hopefully forgotten by the public and the government. I wish GM success, but lots of hypocrisy here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 (edited) It's the same as you giving me $100 and telling me I only have to pay back $10 - so I pay you $10 out of the $100 and keep $90. It's about as close to lying as you can get. No, it's more like the government saying you owe us $6 Billion and we own 60% of you and we'll be selling you off ASAP. GM was never expected to buy its own shares back off the government... Edited May 18, 2010 by jpd80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickF1011 Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 GM was never expected to buy its own shares back off the government... No, but they are expected to pay back the escrow account from which they withdrew the money to repay the TARP loan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EgoFG Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 No, it's more like the government saying you owe us $6 Billion and we own 60% of you and we'll be selling you off ASAP. GM was never expected to buy its own shares back off the government... It is actually more like: I buy a 61% share in a company, loan it $100, and in addition to that create a 'line of credit' for an additional $200 Then the company draws $100 from the line of credit to pay back the loan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 No, but they are expected to pay back the escrow account from which they withdrew the money to repay the TARP loan. you can see the logic in the government wanting TARP lending returned now but I agree, GM proclaiming they are paying back all government loans is deceptive and misleading..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerM Posted May 19, 2010 Author Share Posted May 19, 2010 (edited) To me, the central question isn't whether or not they make profit this quarter or not, but what is the long term? No, I didn't favor the bailout of GM or Chrysler, but since it happened, can anyone say anything (culturally) within GM has changed? Ford is changing its fortune through its products. Has GM done anything to improve its business model since they were given all this money? Have the products improved? Have they altered the way they do business? Is anything on the horizon, other than the Volt which is at best a mirage? (I say mirage because it isn't a truly competitive product without government subsidy) From what I've read, they've kept selling the same shit they had before (except de-contented), and are contractually-obligated to pay 5000 workers not to work (for up to two years) and/or re-hire them under the old wage structure before they can hire anyone at parity wages (sounds a lot like "jobs bank" to me, even if they don't call it that.), even as they still need to downsize. The US taxpayer may have paid GM's way out of their problems, but as far as I can tell, it hasn't solved them. These things take time obviously, but has GM's rudder even moved, or did the US taxpayer merely move an iceberg out of the way, hoping the GM-Titanic would steer clear of the next one? Edited May 19, 2010 by RangerM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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