DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

General Motors Corp. (GM) posted a stunning $15.5 billion second-quarter
net loss, as the auto maker piled up $9.1 billion in charges and
write-downs and suffered a deep drop in North American sales.

The company had warned in mid-July that it would post "a significant
second quarter loss." But the actual numbers were far worse than
analysts had expected, and point to the enormous challenges facing GM as
buyers turn away en masse from its most profitable offerings.

GM shares fell more than 7% in premarket trading to $10.20.

GM reported a net loss of $27.33 a share, compared with net income of
$891 million, or $1.56 a share, a year earlier. Excluding items, the
loss was $6.3 billion, or $11.21 a share.

Revenue fell 18% to $38.2 billion.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had been looking for a loss,
excluding items, of $2.62 a share on revenue of $44.57 billion.

GM's Latin American operation was a bright spot - profit rose to $445
million from $296 million. But Asia swung to loss and European profits
tumbled 94%.

Excluding charges, the North American business had a $4.3 billion loss
as revenue dropped by one-third to $19.8 billion, pushing market share
down to 20.2% from 22.7%.

A year ago, GM swung to a second-quarter profit as it relied on
continued strength in international operations and a slim profit in its
core North American automotive unit to dramatically improve its bottom line.

GM's earnings were also dented by a $1.2 billion loss from its 49% stake
in its GMAC LLC financing arm. Thursday, GMAC swung to a second-quarter
loss as it took a $716 million write-down on leases and recorded more
losses from its Residential Capital LLC unit.

Second-quarter cash levels fell to $21 billion at the end of the second
quarter from $23.9 billion at the end of the first quarter.

The dismal second quarter caps four consecutive years of disappointing
results, dating back to the beginning of 2005, when GM shocked Wall
Street with an abrupt string of deep losses. Since then, Chief Executive
Rick Wagoner has been racing to cut costs, slim down operations and
remake the vehicle portfolio.

*At the same time, Wagoner has invested heavily into emerging markets,
placing big bets in Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia even as
market share dwindles at home.*

- - -

Any bets as to when GM will abandon manufacturing in the U.S. market?

..

"hk" wrote in message
. ..


DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

General Motors Corp. (GM) posted a stunning $15.5 billion second-quarter
net loss, as the auto maker piled up $9.1 billion in charges and
write-downs and suffered a deep drop in North American sales.

The company had warned in mid-July that it would post "a significant
second quarter loss." But the actual numbers were far worse than analysts
had expected, and point to the enormous challenges facing GM as buyers
turn away en masse from its most profitable offerings.

GM shares fell more than 7% in premarket trading to $10.20.

GM reported a net loss of $27.33 a share, compared with net income of $891
million, or $1.56 a share, a year earlier. Excluding items, the loss was
$6.3 billion, or $11.21 a share.

Revenue fell 18% to $38.2 billion.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had been looking for a loss,
excluding items, of $2.62 a share on revenue of $44.57 billion.

GM's Latin American operation was a bright spot - profit rose to $445
million from $296 million. But Asia swung to loss and European profits
tumbled 94%.

Excluding charges, the North American business had a $4.3 billion loss as
revenue dropped by one-third to $19.8 billion, pushing market share down
to 20.2% from 22.7%.

A year ago, GM swung to a second-quarter profit as it relied on continued
strength in international operations and a slim profit in its core North
American automotive unit to dramatically improve its bottom line.

GM's earnings were also dented by a $1.2 billion loss from its 49% stake
in its GMAC LLC financing arm. Thursday, GMAC swung to a second-quarter
loss as it took a $716 million write-down on leases and recorded more
losses from its Residential Capital LLC unit.

Second-quarter cash levels fell to $21 billion at the end of the second
quarter from $23.9 billion at the end of the first quarter.

The dismal second quarter caps four consecutive years of disappointing
results, dating back to the beginning of 2005, when GM shocked Wall Street
with an abrupt string of deep losses. Since then, Chief Executive Rick
Wagoner has been racing to cut costs, slim down operations and remake the
vehicle portfolio.

*At the same time, Wagoner has invested heavily into emerging markets,
placing big bets in Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia even as market
share dwindles at home.*

- - -

Any bets as to when GM will abandon manufacturing in the U.S. market?



No time soon.

Although dismal financial results, the bulk of the "losses" are write offs
and charges to re-tool for the manufacture of more smaller, fuel efficient
cars for the US market.

Sounds horrible, and I am not making light of the problems, but it's not as
bad as the media (and you) are making it out to be.

Eisboch

BTW ....

*This* little news tidbit ought to get your blood circulating ..... :-)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080801/...t_democrats_dc

Eisboch

"Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote
in message . ..


I am trying to figure out why Harry is relishing the fact that any company
is having a downturn.

It has a negative impact on individuals who have stock in the company,
retirees who depend on dividends for part of their income,
it has a negative impact on the employees and the local and/or national
economy.

I guess Harry just enjoys seeing others hurt.



I sincerely don't think Harry wants anybody hurt.

He's in warm-up mode for November. Happens every four years.

Eisboch

Eisboch wrote:
"hk" wrote in message
. ..

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

General Motors Corp. (GM) posted a stunning $15.5 billion second-quarter
net loss, as the auto maker piled up $9.1 billion in charges and
write-downs and suffered a deep drop in North American sales.

The company had warned in mid-July that it would post "a significant
second quarter loss." But the actual numbers were far worse than analysts
had expected, and point to the enormous challenges facing GM as buyers
turn away en masse from its most profitable offerings.

GM shares fell more than 7% in premarket trading to $10.20.

GM reported a net loss of $27.33 a share, compared with net income of $891
million, or $1.56 a share, a year earlier. Excluding items, the loss was
$6.3 billion, or $11.21 a share.

Revenue fell 18% to $38.2 billion.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had been looking for a loss,
excluding items, of $2.62 a share on revenue of $44.57 billion.

GM's Latin American operation was a bright spot - profit rose to $445
million from $296 million. But Asia swung to loss and European profits
tumbled 94%.

Excluding charges, the North American business had a $4.3 billion loss as
revenue dropped by one-third to $19.8 billion, pushing market share down
to 20.2% from 22.7%.

A year ago, GM swung to a second-quarter profit as it relied on continued
strength in international operations and a slim profit in its core North
American automotive unit to dramatically improve its bottom line.

GM's earnings were also dented by a $1.2 billion loss from its 49% stake
in its GMAC LLC financing arm. Thursday, GMAC swung to a second-quarter
loss as it took a $716 million write-down on leases and recorded more
losses from its Residential Capital LLC unit.

Second-quarter cash levels fell to $21 billion at the end of the second
quarter from $23.9 billion at the end of the first quarter.

The dismal second quarter caps four consecutive years of disappointing
results, dating back to the beginning of 2005, when GM shocked Wall Street
with an abrupt string of deep losses. Since then, Chief Executive Rick
Wagoner has been racing to cut costs, slim down operations and remake the
vehicle portfolio.

*At the same time, Wagoner has invested heavily into emerging markets,
placing big bets in Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia even as market
share dwindles at home.*

- - -

Any bets as to when GM will abandon manufacturing in the U.S. market?



No time soon.

Although dismal financial results, the bulk of the "losses" are write offs
and charges to re-tool for the manufacture of more smaller, fuel efficient
cars for the US market.

Sounds horrible, and I am not making light of the problems, but it's not as
bad as the media (and you) are making it out to be.

Eisboch


I am trying to figure out why Harry is relishing the fact that any
company is having a downturn.

It has a negative impact on individuals who have stock in the company,
retirees who depend on dividends for part of their income,
it has a negative impact on the employees and the local and/or
national economy.

I guess Harry just enjoys seeing others hurt.

hk wrote in news:2JudnbY7
:

General Motors Corp. (GM) posted a stunning $15.5 billion second-
quarter
net loss,

They should have told their dealers tough **** when the dealers
complained that the EV-1 was too reliable to be profitable for their
service departments. But, alas, they crushed them all, rather than give
America its first working electric car in 70 years that the people they
loaned them out to just loved. They loved them so much they followed
the repo crews around and found the storage lot their previous cars were
sent to until the salvage yards could crush them, after removing the
batteries.

This stupid company gets all it deserves. When my father died, I
inherited a 1996 Chevy Caprice Classic barge. Every time you tried to
put down the electric windows, something happened. The 30A breaker in
the panel would trip at times after a blink of all the lights and engine
computer reset. I traced that to a cut in the insulation of the HOOKUP
WIRE the damned car was completely wired with. HOOKUP WIRE! I had no
wiring harness and looked like it was wired by some kids building pedal
carts in dad's garage! The wires were simply wrapped in vinyl electric
tape, loosely, and laid against the sharp, BARE, UNPAINTED metal edges
the doors and anyplace the customer couldn't readily see, was made of.
The cheap thermoplastic simply wore through and shorted the circuit to
ground.

TWO other times, the windows simply fell out of their tracks into the
bottom of the door. Taking the doors apart revealed the scissors jacks
the windows ran up and down on, that looked like those punching jokes
out of an old movie, probably where GM's "engineers" got the idea in
1947, were made with plastic parts that MELTED IN THE PARKING LOT!
Nylon costs too much money to put in the flagship of the Chevy fleet.
We used cheap thermoplastic that melts around 150F. I emailed GM hoping
there was some kind of update parts made of nylon or better stuff. I
have the GM email which said:

"Dear Mr. Butler,

Thank you for contacting the Chevrolet Customer Assistance Center. We
appreciate you taking the time to write us in regards to your 1996
vehicle.

I'm sorry that the runners are warping and your windows are falling out.
If replacing your vehicle is not an option, I suggest keeping it shaded.

Try parking under cover or in the shade as much as possible. You may
want
to invest in a cover for your vehicle to prevent direct exposure to the
sun.

If you should need to contact us in the future, simply reply to this
message or call our Chevrolet Customer Assistance Center at
1-800-222-1020. Customer Relationship Specialists are available Monday
through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., Eastern Time.

Again, thank you for contacting Chevrolet.

Sincerely,

The Chevrolet Consumer Support Team"

This is the EXACT text of the stored email on my hard drive. I kid you
not, they wanted me to PARK IT IN THE SHADE!

I hope GM goes completely bankrupt and Toyota, or some Japanese company
with more sane people running it, takes over the plants to build TINY
cars that get 80mpg and TINY trucks testosterone-charged American males
are going to have to learn to live with, now that they've come to the
realization they can no longer afford to drive those Chevy penis
extension pickups with the 500hp engines to the shop for constant
repairs.

GM can kiss my ass......(c;

Eisboch wrote:
BTW ....

*This* little news tidbit ought to get your blood circulating ..... :-)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080801/...t_democrats_dc

Eisboch




I *love* it. It tells me Wal-Mart is scared.


" (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc is mobilizing U.S. store managers to
lobby against Democrats in November's presidential election, fearing
they will make it easier for workers to unionize, The Wall Street
Journal reported on Friday.

In recent weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart managers and department heads
have been summoned to mandatory meetings at which the retailer stresses
the downside for workers if store workers unionize, the paper said."



- - -


Wal-Mart is among the most exploitative major employers in the United
States. The so-called "health insurance" it "offers" its employees is a
fraud. It is a major violator of wage-hour laws. It is the major seller
of crap ChiComm products in the USA.

"hk" wrote in message
. ..

Eisboch wrote:

"Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq."
wrote

I guess Harry just enjoys seeing others hurt.



I sincerely don't think Harry wants anybody hurt.

He's in warm-up mode for November. Happens every four years.

Eisboch


Reggie is an idiot. I don't "relish" GM's bad news. It means more bad news
for its remaining workforce.

Thank god the Bush-GOP plan to "privatize" social security so individuals
could invest in the flim-flam game called the stock market
got nowhere.


Thank God most people realize they can't rely on social security alone in
their retirement.

Eisboch

Eisboch wrote:
"Reginald P. Smithers III, Esq." wrote
in message . ..

I am trying to figure out why Harry is relishing the fact that any company
is having a downturn.

It has a negative impact on individuals who have stock in the company,
retirees who depend on dividends for part of their income,
it has a negative impact on the employees and the local and/or national
economy.

I guess Harry just enjoys seeing others hurt.



I sincerely don't think Harry wants anybody hurt.

He's in warm-up mode for November. Happens every four years.

Eisboch




Reggie is an idiot. I don't "relish" GM's bad news. It means more bad
news for its remaining workforce.

Thank god the Bush-GOP plan to "privatize" social security so
individuals could invest in the flim-flam game called the stock market
got nowhere.