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GM lost $8,600,000,000 in 2005

Discussion in 'Other Cars' started by JackDodge, Jan 26, 2006.

  1. JackDodge

    JackDodge Gold Member

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    http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...NEWS99/60126004

    The bad news just keeps on a comin' for the General. Anyone want to start a pool as to just when GM declares bankruptcy? We may have to dust off our "Well the last person out of Michigan please turn out the lights?" bumperstickers. <sigh>
     
  2. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    the concept of a number with that many zeros just doesn't click with my reality. they lost eight billion??? i mean, whew.

    that really sucks for the people trying to make a living building cars when their employer doesn't care about earning repeat business.
     
  3. naterprius

    naterprius Senior Member

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    I feel guilty for leaving Michigan behind. They needed professionals like me to stay, and I moved to Colorado, already packed with professionals. I would move back, but for some reason, salaries are still very, very low. Every now and then I check with my old recruiters and such, and the salaries are still far below California, RTP, Dallas, Colorado, even Chicago. It's very strange.

    Nate
     
  4. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    $8B? That can't be right. That's almost as much as Toyota made in 2004.
     
  5. KTPhil

    KTPhil Active Member

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    BK is an option. They may find the bad publicity is worth the chance to eliminate the benefits they have contracted to provide employees and retirees. GMAC and the automaking sectors may be split also. There will always be a GM, but it will be a very different company after such changes.
     
  6. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    I understand, G. It's much easier to grasp the number when expressed in hex: 2 0099 9600
    Binary, on the other hand: 10 0000 0000 1001 1001 1001 0110 0000 0000

    Then again, 8.6 billion is 92 times the distance from the Sun to the Earth in miles.
     
  7. preludemd

    preludemd New Member

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    Huh? doubt you could have saved GM. <_<
     
  8. SomervillePrius

    SomervillePrius New Member

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    Found this link:Cool GM hybrid

    GM bring out the Precept Hybrid our goverment help you develop and you would rule the market! Heck even if you dont' reach your claimed 80mpg you should still rule!

    So Gm you really have two cars I dig. One (the EV1) you choose to manufacture 800 of even though there was a waiting list longer then the current Priu have and the other you never launched...

    Cool way to prove you are a technology leader!
     
  9. EricGo

    EricGo New Member

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    That really is an impressive number (Thanks Tony !), but the ~ 3/4rths of the losses are one-time charges related to downsizing.

    I think the much more interesting and worrisome fact (for GM) is that 150,000 less monster SUV's were sold, and that was enough to dump then into the red zone even excluding the one-time charges. I have read somewhere that GM makes close to $10k/vehicle on those insults to sensibility. So in effect, although GM is a 50 Billion/yr revenue company, for profits it is dependent on one type of vehicle that *even* americans realize is a stupid purchase.

    Anybody who thinks GM can compete in the economy car market against Korea and Japan, raise your hand. Didn't think so.

    In other news, GM executives over at their blog are gushing excitement over plans to reintroduce muscle cars ... if that market ever materializes, small hybrids are going to eat them alive.
     
  10. JackDodge

    JackDodge Gold Member

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    No more than I could by being one car buyer who actually bought a GM car. Their problems are way deeper than that.
     
  11. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    That car has been around for a while. Nothing happened.
     
  12. JKnight

    JKnight Member

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    Wow. That means I made more than $8.5 billion MORE last year than the world's #1 automaker! Hope the IRS doesn't find out....

    Jan
     
  13. roach52osu

    roach52osu New Member

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    Perhaps Exxon can use some of their UBER-Profits to help them out since such a huge portion of their record profits stem from the guzzlers they produce... perhaps it could be sold to them on the idea of a synergistic relationship, bigger cars more gas, more profits more discounts to customers to buy guzzlers.

    They could even have a gas contract kind of like getting a free phone for agreeing to a contract with a phone provider you could get a cheap SUV but have to buy all of your gas from Exxon...

    Ahhh the environmental havoc could go on forever muhahahah....

    On a less sarcastic note it is too bad that issues like this will impact the economy and us jobs but such is life when a company fails to remain competitive in a changing market.
     
  14. windstrings

    windstrings Certified Prius Breeder

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    Lost 8.6 Billion?... Yea I really hate it when that happens......
     
  15. Frank Hudon

    Frank Hudon Senior Member

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    right now I sure wouldn't want to be a retired GM employee. Can you say brown trousers.
     
  16. Spunky

    Spunky New Member

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    When there's no money coming into the local economy, every industry remains depressed.
     
  17. ABC12

    ABC12 New Member

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    I don't see a weigh-in by our resident GM troll Malorn as to how this is all our fault for buying the superior product. Without that, this is just an empty discussion. Malorn...?
     
  18. windstrings

    windstrings Certified Prius Breeder

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    yea, it doesn't go far when we all agree.

    You can just bet your sweet littel bippy that the big execs are padding thier playhouses before it all crashes.... thats where alot of the 8.6 B went IMHO! ;)
     
  19. bnlfanmatt

    bnlfanmatt Member

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    I would love to see what the highest 50 or 100 or maybe 200 employees salaries were. I bet the $8,600,000,000 (sorry, had to see it written out again) is well represented there.