Using inventory to fudge the books is a common tactic for MOST autos. My former roommate was a comptroller at a national auto dealership chain, and he regularly had to count inventory on-hand as a “potential sale.”
Being a government owned operation, GM can lie, cheat and steal, and not be called for it.
Anyone who buys stock in GM deserves to lose their money!
This reminds meb of a past announcement by
IBM about having shipped 70,000 copies of OS/2.
The retail channel responded that, “Shipped ain’t sold”.
In fact, most of those units ended up dumped in
surplus stores with the seals intact. Nobody wanted
the product.
GM related. Crony Car Capitalism http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2639289/posts
Another Enron-style accounting rules waiver?
This is not an uncommon practice - especially when the government is involved...
Well, clearly they’re going to need another cash for clunkers program pretty soon. Obama can bail out the Dealers by buying up their stock and scrapping it. Then GM can improve its balance sheet going by selling them more.
Otherwise, they’re liable to run out of room in the dealers’ lots.
Or, another idea, they could just put the extra unsold cars out in the streets with the keys in the ignition, so illegal aliens can steal them and sell them for a few bucks. After all, they’re probably worth at least the price of gas in their tanks.
One of many reasons why decent people don’t invest in corrupt companies. I am boycotting GM, both as a consumer and as an investor. Avoiding these deceptions is just a bonus on top of the pleasure in doing the right thing morally.
Whether the cars were actually needed or not, it kept union workers busy making them. Makework projects to keep union workers employed, that's not a new idea at all.
Question is, what to do with them? Back in the old embargo days, there were rumors that the Japanese bought US cars (as a sign of fair, two-way trade in autos) them dumped them off the transport ship in mid-ocean. I wouldn't be surprised if surplus GM cars are bought by US fleets, given away or sold for scrap having never been driven. Government ownership means government waste, after all, and we can't have all that unsold inventory depressing demand.
Alternatively, Obama may be looking for ways to MAKE people buy GM, like tax incentives or Cash-for-Clunkers II...
If so there are tax implications. And that means that somebody has to be looking the other way...
A purchase for GM is a vote for Obama, the unions and democrats.
That should put all the nails in the coffin for this POS. I am/was an owner of Suburbans for the last 21 years and my parents had a Cadillac. I will NEVER buy a new vehicle from the Government Motors. My next big vehicle will be the Excursion or Toyota Sequoia. My girls have their Corolla and Kia Sportage.
Remember a purchase from GM is a vote for Obama and his union/democrat parasites.... scr#w 'em.
aka “channel stuffing”
The list, ping
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
I think this is a GM captain obvious moment.
It was always a pump and dump to protect the unionistas.