GM's big announcement came out today and it is pretty serious. GM announced a 4.2 billion dollar loss and is essentially saying that bankruptcy is imminent.
In GM's words:
GM's potential bankruptcy in my eyes is the biggest threat to the economy of the United States and the World; some solution needs to be found, and found quickly because the economic implications of GM going bankrupt are enormous. Hundreds of thousands if not millions of jobs will be effected and not just in the US, but worldwide. GM's needs to remain operating for the sake of the economy as far as I see it, and it looks like the only hope for GM is government assistance.Even if GM implements the planned operating actions that are substantially within its control, GM's estimated liquidity during the remainder of 2008 will approach the minimum amount necessary to operate its business. Looking into the first two quarters of 2009, even with its planned actions, the company's estimated liquidity will fall significantly short of that amount unless economic and automotive industry conditions significantly improve, it receives substantial proceeds from asset sales, takes more aggressive working capital initiatives, gains access to capital markets and other private sources of funding, receives government funding under one or more current or future programs, or some combination of the foregoing.