When are they going to take this company off life support? General Motors has lost billions more than we expected with its latest result.
The question is whether the funds from the US Government keeping the company going is throwing good money after bad. There is a structural shift going on in the market place that overshadows GM's ineptitude.
Ford which is not receiving taxpayers' cash, for example, has lowered its forecast for 2009 US auto demand to 10.5 million, 1 million below what it originally projected. Analysts have told Bloomberg that Ford will probably need to be given government money to stay afloat.
But as Tom Walsh points out in the Detroit Free Press, car sales are dropping right around the world, and that reflects the credit contraction.
Take a look at the broader economy, and you can see the picture emerging with US jobless numbers reaching their highest level in 26 years and durable goods orders nose-diving.
No doubt, the US Government will continue bailing out the auto industry. But until the banks start lending again, the car makers will continue to bleed badly. And cost US taxpayers billions.
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