Fool Me Once Shame On You, Fool Me Twice?

Today, General Motors announced that they only lost $1.2 billion in the third quarter and then went on to say that soon they will start paying back the U.S. government the billions of dollars in bailout money that was loaned to them earlier. Now, I am just a simple man from Texas - but there seems to be some kind of problem with the calculators at General Motors. How, is it possible for a company to lose over one billion dollars in the third quarter and then announce that they will start paying back taxpayers their money at the rate of $1 billion dollars per quarter starting in December?

The only way that kind of math is even possible is in a government run operation. It appears that General Motors really has become what some have joke about for months, "Government Motors". Not only is General Motors moving full speed ahead toward producing fuel efficient cars that consumers will most likely not be interested in buying, but now the management at GM is starting to talk and act like Members of Congress when it comes to the management of money. As many people already know, in Washington D.C. it is common for Congress to claim that they have cut spending by just reducing the amount of increase in a government program.

That begs the questions of, is General Motors trying to fool American taxpayers once again? Most of us have heard the old saying "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me". It seems like General Motors is trying to fool the American people once again about it's overall financial well being. Most Americans said in public opinion polls that they did not want to loan General Motors bailout money. However, in classic style - Washington politicians substituted their own superior wisdom for that of the American people. Now for all practical purposes, General Motors is just another department of the U.S. government - so why shouldn't they start talking like Washington D.C. politicians when it comes to the handling of money?

What I will remember as General Motors and the U.S. federal government continue to use fuzzy math to describe is that Ford Motor Company did not take any taxpayer money and rather than losing $1 billion in the third quarter they earn a profit of almost that same amount. The right way for a capitalist nation to operate is the way Ford Motor Company has been running it's business. General Motors is showing the exact wrong way a business should be run. Sadly, political leaders will now use the old logic of "we are too invested now in GM to allow it to fail" to continue to prop up a company that should have been allowed to go out of business. In the future, General Motors might consider changing its name to "Fuzzy Math Motors" as they continue to try and fool the American people.