Hahaha! Unreal. Only in America can a company take a $39 Billion loss and stay in business. “I would ecourage people not to react in a negative way…” LMAO! Brilliant! I have a feeling that quote will be lampooned for years to come.

They need to release more instant hits like the new CTS as soon as possible. They seem to be in the right track, but like Ford, what they need is time.

Baby steps…this article is clearly designed to play this announcement up, but it’s really nothing we didn’t already know. GM is simply balancing its books, a smart move if they want to be able to realistically study their progress in the next few years.

The bleeding wound is healing thanks to much improved models over the past few years. I imagine the core of GM, the automotive sector, will be profitable in around 3/4 years and climb in profitability from there provided GM doesn’t lose the momentum they’ve built. GMAC, though, needs to go and should’ve been gone a long time ago.

Piablo you are right: how the hell are they still in business?

HAHA $39 BILLION WHAT A WASTE

They are still the largest auto manufacturer in the world.

Everyone realizes that GM didn’t literally lose $39 billion in 3 months, right?

This is basically paperwork.

You guys are all making this out to seem like its nothing. Stop. If this was an article saying “Toyota posts $39 billion loss” you’d all flip out talking **** and what not. WAKE UP. Stop being so faux optimistic, GM is sucking, and this is the result. But of course, I’m sure you’ll all tell me that the new Malibu will change EVERYTHING. right? RIGHT?

If this was posted about Toyota, it would still mean virtually nothing. There is a difference between this and operational losses.

Don’t get all pissy just because you expected to click this thread and enjoy some nice GM bashing to feed your Toyotaphile bias.

“Everyone realizes that GM didn’t literally lose $39 billion in 3 months, right? This is basically paperwork.”
Yeah but still makes ya cringe… Ouch.

They didn’t lose 39 billion dollars. They are just adjusting their market value to more accurately represent what it was – since GM has not been posting these things over the last 3 years so now they are forced to force them about that.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119438884709884385.html?mod=djemalert

Without the charge, GM would have lost only $400 million dollars. That is the REAL amount that they have lost. The charge is misleading and really has no affect on anything.

You didn’t think that from where GM was a year ago there would not be business bumps along the way to get down the road. Most said just make products that people would buy and that’s what has been happening since – better than I would have thought.

From what I understand based on further research, this loss is actually a loss of convoluted US tax credits that act as incentives for profitable companies in key industries. Basically, it is a bribe the IRS uses to convince domestic companies to stay within our idiotic counter-productive tax system rather than move overseas.

GM is no longer projected to receive these tax credits for the next few years because they have been unprofitable for a certain amount of time. However, in another overly-confusing tax code scenario, the moment GM turns a profit again, they can claim it all back and post a $39 billion PROFIT.

God bless the USA, eh? If we simply rewrote our tax codes to NOT punish companies that operate on our soil, we wouldn’t need all these idiotic tax rules.

$39,000,000,000… Wow

even with 100% of GMAC, i dont think $757 million would make a dent in $39 billion….so why state that??

CA36GTP: Irrelevent, the point is, even if it meant virtually nothing on a Toyota thread, there would still be a ****load of comments from flaming fools like..well…you

Can I borrow some money? I’ll pay you right back.

Didn’t the UAW private equity account cost a little more than $39B ? Maybe they are just trying to hide that cost somewhere.

sik59rt, a $757 million GMAC debt makes a huge difference when you consider that GM’s operating loss was only $400 million.

The announcement can best be summed up as “still making you cringe,” but no overreaction is necessary. You can be that every big company has a small army of accountants and tax lawyers who constantly maneuver credits, debits, etc. into the best possible slots for tax liability. Toyota’s huge, but you can bet there’s accounting behind some of those profits posted as well.

In sum: stay the course GM, keep costs down, keep sales up, let the accountants do what they want with their fancy calculators and late-afternoon lunches with the IRS, but stay focused on the product. And in that sense, I like GM’s chances better than Chrysler or Ford for the moment….

lamboz wait until 1115 wakes up and misinterperates this. ca36gtp seems to have a grasp on theese strange tax credits, me i am completely lost as to why ith irs even does this weird ****. and to you gm, loose your financing arm, it is a huge thorn in your side.

Relax, this is just a “paper” loss. Actually, GM is *only* losing $3 million/day in North America. So what if they lose money on every sale? They can make it up in volume!

Time to buy GM stock.

this is a loss GM truly deserves and that the should gratefully accept for producing crimes against manufacturing. well done you!

Actually, they had to record this in line with SEC rules. As they are probably getting ready to find some financing for the VEBA, they needed their books to look realistic or face even harsher criticism going forward.

This is all paper. Toyota is carrying something like $10 billion in tax assets forward right now, and if Toyota’s profits turn south on weaker demand, dollar weakness, higher commodity prices, etc, they would have to write off their tax assets as well according to SEC regulations.

What this really means, which is actually the critical part of this, is that GM expects its income going forward to be lower than originally planned so that it cannot, in fact, realize these tax gains that it is carrying forward (if you have no income, you can’t actually take tax deductions). No cash is burned. Nothing is actually lost, except its assets – which will make their balance sheet look weaker, but more realistic and possibly start looking better faster in the future if income increases (and tax assets can be added back in).

It’s not great. But that $39 billion is just media sensationalism at its best. Why think when you can read headlines!?!

Well this is no surprise since GM is wasting so much time and money on building and selling multiple different cars which are all basically the same car, just under different names and slightly different cosmeticly. I guess if this continues, GM will fall from #2 to #3. Just watched business report and market value of Toyota motors is 5 times what market value of GM is. The American auto industry has completely lost its edge and its all down hill from here as is our economy. The unions are just making things worse. Those worthless higschool dropout assembly line workers should be fired and replaced with proper skilled workers who love the work they do.

Well, regardless, even if you ignore the non-cash charge, they still lost money.

This is nothing … collateralized debt obligations for not only GM but Ford and Chrysler are big enough to sound the death knell … if this derivatives mess is unleashed, it’s over for all of them.

anybody like me who does not understand this **** please dont post you sound like ignorant fools.

Here is good news: GM lost in last quarter more money then FoMoCo worth. Ford mortgaged all of their assets for 23 B few weeks back. With that speed of assets depreciation GM can continue building different flavors of V8’s for monsters nobody will be able to afford to drive.

“Well this is no surprise since GM is wasting so much time and money on building and selling multiple different cars which are all basically the same car, just under different names and slightly different cosmetically.”
.
While I agree with this statement I disagree with the balance as no human being is worthless.

CTS, nobody understands this **** including CEO of GM & Ford. Otherwise this heading would not exists.

PPiablo: I believe maserati just made its first profit in 17 years.

R-Head: I’ll buy GM stock when i have confidence in the management.
I’ve spent year reading 10-Ks and 10-Qs, and this isn’t anything to get panicky about. Just, as Robert said, to satisfy the SEC.

cd5: Gm has already paid for the Fiero and Citation.

planetdrive: ” Those worthless higschool sic) dropout assembly line workers should be fired (sic) and replaced with proper skilled workers who love the work they do.”

Maybe somebody should take away your job ignoring nonexistent customers at ALCO. Idiot!

f451: making multiple cars off one platform is supposed to SAVE money. It’s not working, because the divisions don’t have enough dedicated cars, and they’re competeing against themselves.

You people really need to stop mentioning my name. Im not surprised that GM is losing money GM CARS SUCK they are inferior to the competition and until they get off their asses and make cars that can compete then this will continue to happen
You should be more concerned with how Commodore will spin this GM is #1 depending on which argument he is trying to win

A $247 million operational loss is pretty sensational considering the hole GM used to be in. Face it, haters, GM is succeeding at a North American turnaround. More than I can say for Ford and Chrysler (yet).

Exactly CTS i was messed up too until i read the whole article, but Dick Wagner seems so smug about his company not turning a profit

fluffer: you’re as pathetic as your accord

Releasing this story on us is like trying to discuss a calculus problem with a preschooler.

Listen you ****ing idiots, it’s not a real 39 billion dollar loss. Does losing 600 million one year, then 250 million the next, then 39 BILLION the next sound like a natural progression to you?

I posted these comments on another thread the other day, however I’ll post it again because I REALLY do believe this is what goes on in a GM board meeting:

GM Executive: Mr Designer, did you design the car we asked for?
GM Designer: Yes Sir, the desing is ready, here it is.
GM Executive: Hmmm, lets see. Give me a minute to think about this. Hmmm…… You know. I am affraid this design is just too bold. Too stylish. Too many people may like it. Let’s scale back a bit. Let’s target 80 year old gradmas. Please go back to your drawing board and make this vehicle a little boring.
GM Designer: Ok Sir.

Designer leaves the meeting, scratches his head and thinks to himself, what the hell is GM thinking?

‘CTS’ and ‘Deanster’, seriously … well over 3/4 of the stuff posted here is pathetic.

deantj: good way to drive the point home.

JJt thats still better than you being more pathetic than your Tempo

1115. Stop speaking for me. I am not spinning anything to say GM is #1.

I was simply trying to put this post in perspective. The fact is that GM lost only about $400 million, the rest was a NON-CASH CHARGE. I said it so Toyonda apologists like YOU would NOT spin it and say that GM has lost a crapload of money. Because in reality, if they had lost 39 Billion, they would most likely be out of business because that is more than their market cap and a large portion of their 3rd quarter revenues (look up all these terms if u don’t understand them

So GM lost $400m this year of which $757m was due to its stake in a credit company affected by the sub-prime fiasco (thanks USA by the way, the rest of the world is really enjoying the after effects of your continued financial ****-ups). They also had to declare a $39 billion drop in value due to tax credits that they were no longer eligible for because they have been a loss-making company for several consecutive years.
Can someone who understands properly answer this for me: Does this mean that if GMAC hadn’t had such a bad year, GM would have shown a $300m-odd profit this year, been profitable and still been eligible for the credits?

Got Handling, that is what I am getting from all this legal double-talk. I could be wrong.

That is a REALLY good question got handling. And I’m afraid I can’t answer it. It makes logical sense to me because their car operations (core business) did make money, just GMAC brought it down. Your question makes logical sense but I don’t know if it’s like that or not.

Deanster, and everyone else trying to minimize this loss- Yes, this is not a single loss for the quarter or even the year. It IS however a $39 Billion loss over 3 years. Losing an average of $13 Billion a year for three years, in addition to the reported losses over the past years… That’s not a big deal?? Nobody needs to understand why it’s okay to keep $39Billion in losses off the books to understand that amount of money is simply not okay to lose. If Rick Wagoner was korean or japanese, he would have killed himself by now in shame. In some cultures, losing that amount of money is simply not okay.

OK