GM Lies Like any other Arm of Government

polifrog


Updated with video below...



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Ed Whitacre Chairman and CEO of Government Motors claimed that the 5 or 6 billion government loaned to GM was repaid. There was no mention of the other 50 billion GM borrowed from the government, but whatever.

I went to Yahoo Finance to see what GM has been doing that has allowed it to repay 5.8 billion dollars. Unfortunately most of the info was unavailable or simply not able to be computed due to the lack of PROFIT.

GM's finances seem to be utterly opaque. P/E or share price over earnings? Dunno. Key Statistics? The button is inoperable. Whatever, it is a government run corporation and follows a new set of accounting rules.

I did, however, find some interesting details here...

60% is owned by the Government
17.5% is owned by voluntary employees’ beneficiary association (VEBA), which is supervised by an independent board
11.7% is owned by the Canadian/Ontario governments
10% is owned by the Motor Liquidations Company (MLC) , or commonly known as, the old GM
There are three different piles of money General Motors owes the U.S. treasury:
1. $6.7 billion pure loan. That first payment was made in late December or mid-December of about $1 billion. There is $5.7 billion of that debt remaining outstanding.
2. preferred shares - $2.1 billion worth of preferred shares that pay dividends and can be sold anytime. This is owned by governments and the UAW VEBA.
3. 60.8% of common stock

According to The Christian Science Monitor

General Motors reported a relatively small loss for 2009 and said it has "a chance" at profits this year – a sign that the largest US automaker is making headway toward recovery from its collapse into bankruptcy.

Yet the company repaid a 5.8 billion dollar loan? From what? There was no profit out of which to pay it.

The answer can be found at FOX business.




GM paid off the loan with a "loan". Government Motors is like any government entity in that there are multiple pockets out of which money is paid, and into which money flows. Financial accountability enters the realm of, well....none. Just another example of opaque government and without accountability.

I ask, would a company not so entwined with government get away with such fraud? Apparently Enron's mistake was in not having been a government sock puppet.

Consider Toyota's treatment this summer. Bottom line, Toyota pays for their errors either real or media made out of their own pocket. GM has no pockets other than yours and mine....

I suspect this is a poor attempt by the Obama administration to burnish its reputation in regard to the many bailouts the Democrat party has been hammered with before the November elections. At this point the uninformed, on which the Democrat party relies, believes that GM paid off its loan and that the administration did the right thing.

I hope this despicable chicanery back fires on the administration.




out