Huge Congrats to General Motors!
- Thread starter phillyturbosix
- Start date
Pronto
No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot.
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2002
I got the same one.
I think Buick is making some real nice cars lately. They aren't so old looking and the interiors are very nice.
I hope they do well. I've made a few bucks buying and selling GM stock. If they keep making nicer cars like the new Buicks the stock will go up for sure.
Yes that's true. What the GM adds don't tell you is they used all TARP money to pay the loan, NOT their own money.
Gimme a break GM.
Went to a new car auto show two weeks ago. I was anxious to look at certain GM models, as we're going to be moving up to a luxury sedan in the future.
Buick LaCrosse is truely beautiful, and one the best built cars around.
Looked at a new Camaro SS as the wife experssed some interest in those for a "toy". Man were we disapointed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Talk a bout a cheap slapped together junky interior!!!!!!!!!!!!! Got out and closed the door, and guess what. Ya know that clunky rattling sound our upper door panels make on our G body's. New Camaro still does the same thing. I couldn't believe it.
GM still doesn't get it. And being completely deceptive about how they paid back the loan.
LOL, now the real story. I gotta laugh when the CEO is walking around in the commercial thinking, " Yes, suckers, we paid back taxpayer money from another account full of your taxpayer money." I wish I could pay off one credit card with another one and call it done.
Sad deal...I've always been a GM fan but for them to actually be advertising to us that they've paid the money back "5 years ahead of schedule"...is exceptionally disappoininting to me when you learn a day or two later they used TARP money from the Fed Govt to pay back the Fed Govt bailout loan.
Sure makes you wonder about everything else they say...
I find it sad...and an indicator of poor corporate character.
Bob K
Sure makes you wonder about everything else they say...
I find it sad...and an indicator of poor corporate character.
Bob K
Turbo Indian
worlds quickest 6cyl bird
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2003
those of you that are saying YEA WAY TO GO GM!!! better wake up & NOT believe what Government Motors is saying. like posted before, they pay there debit from another government account.
just think about it for just 1 min. GM posted HUGE losses all last 12 months, how in the hell can they pay back a huge loan, when they are posting billions in loses?
I guess many of the American consumers are suckers.:wink:
just think about it for just 1 min. GM posted HUGE losses all last 12 months, how in the hell can they pay back a huge loan, when they are posting billions in loses?
I guess many of the American consumers are suckers.:wink:
Anybody have a link for that info? They would show a loss because they had spent the money to pay back the loan. But I could be wrong. Either way I wouldnt root against them. I want them to do well and pay us back. It doesnt make sense to want them to fail.
Pete
Pete
FOXNews.com - GM Could Be in Hot Water With FTC Over Truth in Advertising
FOXNews.com
- April 23, 2010
GM Could Be in Hot Water With FTC Over Truth in Advertising
General Motors is running ads on all the major networks this week claiming it has repaid its bailout from the taxpayers "in full." But the claim isn't standing up to scrutiny from lawmakers and government watchdogs who have found that the automaker was able to repay the bailout money only by dipping into a separate pot of bailout funds.
General Motors is running ads on all the major networks this week claiming it has repaid its bailout from the taxpayers "in full." But the claim isn't standing up to scrutiny from lawmakers and government watchdogs who have found that the automaker was able to repay the bailout money only by dipping into a separate pot of bailout funds.
The TV spot may land GM in hot water with the Federal Trade Commission over its truth-in-advertising laws, which prohibit ads that are "likely to mislead consumers."
"We have repaid our government loans in full — with interest — five years ahead of the original schedule," says Ed Whitacre, chairman and CEO of General Motors Company, asking Americans to give the bankrupt company another look.
But a top Senate Republican has accused GM of misleading taxpayers about the loan repayment, saying the struggling auto giant was able to repay a $6.7 billion bailout loan only by using other bailout funds in a special escrow account.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley's charge was backed up by the inspector general for the bailout — also known as the Trouble Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Watchdog Neil Barofsky told Fox News, as well as the Senate Finance Committee, that General Motors used bailout money to pay back the federal government.
"It appears to be nothing more than an elaborate TARP money shuffle," Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a letter Thursday to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
The FTC said it could not provide any comment on the ad or whether it had received any complaints or inquiries about GM's claims from the public or from government officials.
The FTC has a division of advertising practices that investigates possible false claims, but specific investigations are not made public. If the FTC determines that truth-in-advertising laws have been violated, the agency files complaints against the organizations in violation.
GM announced Wednesday that it had paid back the $8.1 billion in loans it received from the U.S. and Canadian governments in 2009. Of that, $6.7 billion went to the U.S. Treasury.
"A lot of Americans didn't agree with giving GM a second chance," Whitacre said in the 60-second ad. "We invite you to take a look at the new GM."
Well, meet the new GM. Same as the old GM. The company is still majority-owned by the federal government, which has a 60 percent stake in the Detroit titan; the Canadian government owns another 12 percent.
GM is not yet solvent, continues to be racked by debt and is still unable to turn a profit — something that has eluded the company since 2004. GM filed for bankruptcy in 2009 but was saved from collapse by a $52 billion infusion from the federal government.
But the company says the repaid TARP loan is a "good start," a signal that the company is emerging from its debts and moving back into the black.
"I think any way you look at it, that we're giving (loans) back with interest before we had to should be taken as a positive sign," said GM spokesman Greg Martin.
Martin said GM has not received any communications from the FTC or complaints from federal officials, and said that public feedback has been positive.
But Senator Grassley has called on Treasury Secretary Geithner to provide more information about why the company was allowed to use bailout money to repay bailout money, and how much of the remaining escrow money GM would be allowed to keep.
"The bottom line seems to be that the TARP loans were 'repaid' with other TARP funds in a Treasury escrow account. The TARP loans were not repaid from money GM is earning selling cars, as GM and the administration have claimed in their speeches, press releases and television commercials," he wrote.
But Barofsky told Fox News that while it's "somewhat good news," there's a big catch.
"I think the one thing that a lot of people overlook with this is where they got the money to pay back the loan. And it isn't from earnings. ... It's actually from another pool of TARP money that they've already received," he said Wednesday. "I don't think we should exaggerate it too much. Remember that the source of this money is just other TARP money."
Barofsky told the Senate Finance Committee the same thing Tuesday, and said the main way for the federal government to earn money out of GM would be through "a liquidation of its ownership interest."
Grassley criticized this scenario in his letter.
"The taxpayers are still on the hook, and whether TARP funds are ultimately recovered depends entirely on the government's ability to sell GM stock in the future. Treasury has merely exchanged a legal right to repayment for an uncertain hope of sharing in the future growth of GM. A debt-for-equity swap is not a repayment," Grassley wrote.
FOXNews.com
- April 23, 2010
GM Could Be in Hot Water With FTC Over Truth in Advertising
General Motors is running ads on all the major networks this week claiming it has repaid its bailout from the taxpayers "in full." But the claim isn't standing up to scrutiny from lawmakers and government watchdogs who have found that the automaker was able to repay the bailout money only by dipping into a separate pot of bailout funds.
General Motors is running ads on all the major networks this week claiming it has repaid its bailout from the taxpayers "in full." But the claim isn't standing up to scrutiny from lawmakers and government watchdogs who have found that the automaker was able to repay the bailout money only by dipping into a separate pot of bailout funds.
The TV spot may land GM in hot water with the Federal Trade Commission over its truth-in-advertising laws, which prohibit ads that are "likely to mislead consumers."
"We have repaid our government loans in full — with interest — five years ahead of the original schedule," says Ed Whitacre, chairman and CEO of General Motors Company, asking Americans to give the bankrupt company another look.
But a top Senate Republican has accused GM of misleading taxpayers about the loan repayment, saying the struggling auto giant was able to repay a $6.7 billion bailout loan only by using other bailout funds in a special escrow account.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley's charge was backed up by the inspector general for the bailout — also known as the Trouble Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Watchdog Neil Barofsky told Fox News, as well as the Senate Finance Committee, that General Motors used bailout money to pay back the federal government.
"It appears to be nothing more than an elaborate TARP money shuffle," Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a letter Thursday to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
The FTC said it could not provide any comment on the ad or whether it had received any complaints or inquiries about GM's claims from the public or from government officials.
The FTC has a division of advertising practices that investigates possible false claims, but specific investigations are not made public. If the FTC determines that truth-in-advertising laws have been violated, the agency files complaints against the organizations in violation.
GM announced Wednesday that it had paid back the $8.1 billion in loans it received from the U.S. and Canadian governments in 2009. Of that, $6.7 billion went to the U.S. Treasury.
"A lot of Americans didn't agree with giving GM a second chance," Whitacre said in the 60-second ad. "We invite you to take a look at the new GM."
Well, meet the new GM. Same as the old GM. The company is still majority-owned by the federal government, which has a 60 percent stake in the Detroit titan; the Canadian government owns another 12 percent.
GM is not yet solvent, continues to be racked by debt and is still unable to turn a profit — something that has eluded the company since 2004. GM filed for bankruptcy in 2009 but was saved from collapse by a $52 billion infusion from the federal government.
But the company says the repaid TARP loan is a "good start," a signal that the company is emerging from its debts and moving back into the black.
"I think any way you look at it, that we're giving (loans) back with interest before we had to should be taken as a positive sign," said GM spokesman Greg Martin.
Martin said GM has not received any communications from the FTC or complaints from federal officials, and said that public feedback has been positive.
But Senator Grassley has called on Treasury Secretary Geithner to provide more information about why the company was allowed to use bailout money to repay bailout money, and how much of the remaining escrow money GM would be allowed to keep.
"The bottom line seems to be that the TARP loans were 'repaid' with other TARP funds in a Treasury escrow account. The TARP loans were not repaid from money GM is earning selling cars, as GM and the administration have claimed in their speeches, press releases and television commercials," he wrote.
But Barofsky told Fox News that while it's "somewhat good news," there's a big catch.
"I think the one thing that a lot of people overlook with this is where they got the money to pay back the loan. And it isn't from earnings. ... It's actually from another pool of TARP money that they've already received," he said Wednesday. "I don't think we should exaggerate it too much. Remember that the source of this money is just other TARP money."
Barofsky told the Senate Finance Committee the same thing Tuesday, and said the main way for the federal government to earn money out of GM would be through "a liquidation of its ownership interest."
Grassley criticized this scenario in his letter.
"The taxpayers are still on the hook, and whether TARP funds are ultimately recovered depends entirely on the government's ability to sell GM stock in the future. Treasury has merely exchanged a legal right to repayment for an uncertain hope of sharing in the future growth of GM. A debt-for-equity swap is not a repayment," Grassley wrote.
So it was a Debt or Equity swap. That means when GM starts selling stock again we will be repaid. Thats what I got out of the news report. Sounds like they stretched the truth a little bit but this is the first step to getting paid back. I would have waited until the stock was being sold to make that claim. The stock should sell well when it becomes available.
Pete
Pete
88 CuttyClassic
The Enviromental Hitman
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2001
good for GM...now bring back Oldsmobile!!!!
ROB-STOCK87T
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2010
I was wondering how GM was able to pay back all that money so fast, when their sales were up, but not breaking any records. Wish all my buddies working in the steel mills back home could have got some help from all the imported steel that has basically shut them down. Guess they weren't to big to fail. 13,000 employees at one time now down to a few hundred. I will always by American vehicles, but no more bailouts.
Little6pack
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2002
People complain about GM getting bailout money but nobody complains about many states giving the Japan and Korean car companies Millions of dollars to put plants in their states which many know sit idle and don't generate a dollar of revnue for their people. Many people don't understand the automotive market was a 18 million unit market and in less than a year it went to 10 million units. Its always easy to say GM was mismanaged but the truth is they were 2 years from a 5 year restructuring that would of made them reduce the cost of every vehicle by $1600 a unit. This done by downsizing to accept 25% market share and reduce their committment to retrires pension and health care. The product you see today is better than they have ever had go look a malibu its better than every japan product out there. So people will always hate Gm but the current economic conditions is what contributed to Gm financial conditions. It will survive and be a stronger company with excellent product. The only reason Ford did not have to take any money they had already sold all their good assets and set up long term loans. They were very close to needing cash also.
TexasT
Texas, Where are you from
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2002
I read today in my local paper that GM has not renewed with the advertising agency that gave us "See the USA in a Chevrolet" and Like A Rock. They have gone with a French agency.
I don't know what to say. I may never buy another new GM. I am really not liking that move.
I don't know what to say. I may never buy another new GM. I am really not liking that move.
heres another article....
Still Government Motors - Forbes.com
Still Government Motors - Forbes.com
The new CEO is flat out "not being truthful, period."
Ditto, what he said. Who else do we all know can have a straight face and lie to the general public?
Ditto, what he said.
Who else do we all know can have a straight face and lie to the general public?Yes!!!
PS: I believe we should support our people and country first and foremost as an American!!! I just bought a new GM car (picking it up tomorrow) but I hate being lied to. Thank God for Fox, I think most people want the truth, good or bad over a lie any day.
Which is why I'm going Ford/Lincoln on my next one. My present Ford has gottem me 10 years of trouble free service
