Re: General Motors may face bankruptcy warns Merrill Lynch [07/02/08]

On Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:46:03 -0700, Rita <Rita@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:26:06 -0400, Gary <not@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:57:05 -0700, Rita <Rita@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:03:59 -0400, Gary <not@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Wed, 2 Jul 2008 07:17:01 -0700 (PDT), mg <mgkelson@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On Jul 2, 6:07 am, Jim Higgins <gordian...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
General Motors may face bankruptcy warns Merrill Lynchhttp://tinyurl.com/6ku89p

Merrill Lynch warned bankruptcy was not out of the question for General
Motors after the car giant released grim sales figures last night.

In the clearest sign yet of changing consumer attitudes to fuel-hungry
SUVs, Merrill cut its rating from buy to underperform and said its lower
forecast for US car sales meant it would need to raise far more cash
than the market was expecting.

The shares rallied more than $2 to $11.75 last night as its sales
decline in June seemed to moderate. But Merrill predicts a massive fall
in sales in the year ahead.

It cut its target price from $28 to $7 and added: "We believe there is
potential downside in the stock below $7 and that bankruptcy is not
impossible if the market continues to deteriorate and significant
incremental capital is not raised."

It said that management's best efforts at restructuring the business
were being dwarfed by the fact that giant Sports Utility Vehicles may be
rendered obsolete by soaring petrol prices while it would need to raise
some $15 billion to see it through to 2010 at a time when credit is
drying up. It said the company does not fully appreciate how difficult
it has become to raise capital in tight credit markets.

--
Civis Romanus Sum

About 50 or 60 years ago, the Li'l Abner cartoon used to say, "What's
good for General Bullmoose is good for the USA". Now after all these
years, the stock market looks like it's hanging by a thread watching
General Bullmoose's earnings and grasping at straws for any good news
it can find.

What worries, and frightens me, is that the stock market is only
20% off it's all time highs. This in the midst of a real estate
crash unequaled since 1930 and a banking fiasco that may be even
worse. I can understand the speculators hanging in for the last
dollar -- but investors usually have more intelligence.

What did the market lose in the Great Depression? About 50% ?

We are only about three months from October. That is the month that
usually sees market crashes.

Will that be the "October surprise". The Republicans are said to
be planning one, albeit of a different type. But this one would
trump anything they could dream up and not work to their advantage:)

That's very possible. One might even say ... probable. It's been
my theory all along -- at least since the GOP let McCain have their
nomination -- that they don't want to win in November.

I figure they see a Hoover type Depression coming and they had rather
not be in charge when it hits. The only question right now is can
they forestall the Crash until after January 20th ? I'm not sure if
the U.S. Treasuries funds will last until then. At the rate the
Fed is bailing out all the banks and stock speculators -- the
government probably can't finance a good Christmas party this year.

You are not supposed to use the term "bail out". El Castor said so.
He chided me for not lauding the fed for saving the country from an
eonomic meltdown.

There was actually a time when you acknowledged that the Fed had done
a good job with the Bear Stearns mess. Now, you see everything through
your political glasses. Not everything is political. The Dot Com melt
down was not Bill Clinton's fault -- not in the slightest degree. The
Asian currency crisis was not his fault, either, but EVERYTHING is the
fault of greedy Republicans. It is warped old bitches like you, and
that *** Gary, that make me hate politics.

The word "rescue" is also verboten. We should
see shoring up the investment banks and speculators as a patriotic
act of lending a helping hand to these segments of our society who
have sacrificed so very much to make us all richer. The fact that
didn't work out as planned should make us sympathetic toward them
as we should feel toward anyone who has a run of bad luck.
.