The U.S. government continues hemorrhaging huge amounts of money on General Motors, despite the fanfare about the automaker repaying billions in government loans, a Judicial Watch investigation has found... In all, the government has lost a perplexing $9.2 billion on its investment in GM, the Treasury records obtained by JW reveal... Currently, the stock is trading at a mere $37. That means that, barring an unforeseen spike in share values between now and the remaining scheduled sales, the government will lose another $11 billion from its GM investments. Go To Site

General Motors has decided to focus on pure Electric Vehicles and Plug-ins–i.e., the types of cars most dependent on government subsidy–rather than on conventional hybrids like the Toyota Prius. Makes sense. In a market every firm specializes in what it does best. Toyota is good at making cars. GM is good at getting government subsidies. — Mickey Kaus Go To Site

General Motors (GM) shares closed down 1.5% to 19.02 on Monday, hitting 18.85 intraday. That's the lowest since the U.S. auto giant came public again in November 2010 at 33 a share. Update: GM shares early Tuesday fell 1.4% to 18.76, hitting a new low.) That raises the taxpayer loss on the GM bailout to just shy of $35 billion. Go To Site

Democrat, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops

The Treasury Department says in a new report the government expects to lose more than $25 billion on the $85 billion auto bailout. That's 15 percent higher than its previous forecast. In a monthly report sent to Congress on Friday, the Obama administration boosted its forecast of expected losses by more than $3.3 billion to almost $25.1 billion, up from $21.7 billion in the last quarterly update. The report may still underestimate the losses. The report covers predicted losses through May 31, when GM's stock price was $22.20 a share.

Democrat, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama

General Motors Co. is recalling 4,873 of its current year Chevrolet Sonic subcompact cars in the United States and Canada for possible missing front brake pads, the company and federal safety regulators said on Friday…

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Imagine turning your car’s steering wheel, or giving it a gentle tug, and having it break away from the steering column. Now you’re speeding along holding the suddenly useless wheel.

President Obama has touted General Motors (GM) as a successful example of his administration's policies. Yet GM's recovery is built, at least in part, on the increasing use of subprime loans. GM Financial auto loans to customers with FICO scores below 660 rose from 87% of total loans in Q4 2010 to 93% in Q1 2012. The worse the FICO score, the bigger the increase. From Q4 2010 to Q1 2012, GM Financial loans to customers with the worst FICO scores — below 540 — shot up 79% to more than $2.3 billion. The second worst category, 540-599, rose 28% from about $3.4 billion to $4.3 billion. Prime loans, those above 660, dropped 42% to $676 million. -David Hogberg Go To Site

Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops

The Congressional Oversight Panel reported Thursday that by selling 45% of the stock it had in GM, Washington has "'locked in' a loss of billions of dollars and thus greatly reduced the likelihood that taxpayers will ever be repaid in full."

Bailout defenders had thought that GM's IPO would show critics that the government could make money on the bailout. But when "Treasury received a price of $33 per share," it sold "well below the $44.59 needed to be on track to recover fully taxpayers money."

Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops

"American taxpayers are now positioned to recover more than my administration invested in GM, and that's a good thing," Obama said, speaking of the government's $50 billion taxpayer-backed rescue of the venerable automaker. "We are finally beginning to see some of these tough decisions that we made in the midst of the crisis pay off," the president said.

Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops

Though Democrats tout the auto bailout as a success, recent reports illustrate the taxpayer cost of the GM auto bailout was substantially larger than the Obama administration and a Congressional Oversight report has owned up to.

Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops

DETROIT (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre promised Monday that taxpayers will make a profit on the $50 billion that Treasury has sunk into the company over the past 13 months. "I think the government's investment is well placed and I think they'll make a lot of money," Whitacre told reporters after an event at the annual auto show here Monday morning. "It won't be too long."