This is a chump-change "loan" by the way. The US govt. has already admitted it will never see most of the $80 billion wasted on GM and Chrysler.
Get a clue people, GM isn't "coming back" with $60 billion in actual debt, who knows how much in unfunded future liabilities (like pensions), and no public stock, not even one effin' share.
As pointed out at The Truth About Cars:
Of course, you have to dig into the numbers to find the bad news, like the $56.4b in “cost of sales,” or the $700m interest cost, or the 48 percent North American capacity utilization in 2009, or the 16.3 percent US car market share. Which is why we’ve included the consolidated statement of operations, consolidated balance sheets and more, for your no-download-necessary perusal, after the jump.
48% utilization???? (They have more than half of their capacity sitting around gathering dust.)
16.3% market share??? (GM alone used to have 60%)
And Chrysler is even worse. They're sharing a room in the ICU.
Go look for yourself at the actual balancesheet, unless you like being spoon-fed baby food.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/gm-lost-4-3b-in-the-second-half-of-2009/How about the *unfunded* pension liabilities of GM and Chrysler of $77 billion? Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (i.e., the US govt.) will get stuck with that, too.
Gee, maybe GM could direct that ridiculous loan "payment" into the pension fund. Just a thought...
Here's an excerpt from an All Voices article well worth reading:
A General Accounting Office report on the auto bailout, released Wednesday, paints a stark picture of an additional $36 billion in unfunded pension obligations if the industry turnaround efforts fail.
The bailout has already cost $81 billion and in addition the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. has already assumed $6.2 billion dollars in pension losses from auto supplier Delphi Corp. Total pension losses to the PBGC could be $42 billion, while retirees could lose up to $35 billion in benefits.
Also on Wednesday, General Motors said that it lost $4.3 billion in the second half of last year. It was the company's first post-bankruptcy earnings report using generally accepted accounting principles.
Chris Liddell, GM's chief financial officer, emphasized the positive regarding the $4.3 billion loss, noting that nearly all of it stemmed from a currency adjustment and a union retiree medical plan settlement.
Liddell also said the company could turn a profit this year.
The company reported last week that sales for March rose 43 percent in its core brands – those it is not discontinuing – and that its incentives for the month uncharacteristically fell below the industry average.
But the GAO points to steep challenges ahead, from the huge pension fund obligations, auto sales going forward and political tensions in the government's role in GM and Chrysler. Individual members of Congress have sent 300 letters to Treasury regarding day-to-day management issues.
GM will have to add more than $12 billion to its pension fund in 2013-14 while Chrysler's obligation will be more than $2 billion. It will take a lot of profit to meet those obligations, and the PBGC will be on the hook for all of it if the automakers terminate their pension plans.
Ironically, the government-led auto industry restructuring exacerbated the pension fund shortfalls because payments to downsized workers came from the pension funds.
Read the whole thing here:
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/5560953-auto-bailout-taxpayers-look-out-below
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