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General Motors Lost $85 Million Every Day

Posted Feb 26, 2009 11:56am EST by John Carney in Investing, Recession, Autos

From The Business Insider, Feb. 26, 2009:

As we mentioned this morning, GM's total loss for the fourth quarter of 2008 was $9 billion. It's hard to imagine any number that large, so we decided to break it down by the day. It turns out that GM lost something like $85 million every day. That's still almost unimaginably huge. So let's break it down further.

General Motors losses.

Quarter: $9 billion.

Day: $85 million.

Hour: $3.5 million.

Minute: $58,333.

So that's a number we can understand. That's just a few thousand dollars more than the average household income in the US in 2007. In short, with every passing minute GM  loses slightly more money than the average American household makes in a year.

For more coverage, go to The Business Insider.

99 Comments

Sam
Sam - Thursday February 26, 2009 12:01PM EST

wow

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Thursday February 26, 2009 12:02PM EST

Time and tide wait for no man~~~

- Thursday February 26, 2009 12:03PM EST

Disaster...keep banks awake that just raise consumer lending rates.

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Thursday February 26, 2009 12:03PM EST

OK. If you are going to make an analysis of the car industry per minute, then PLEASE give us an analysis of the banking industry also to put it into perspective. Lets not slant it.

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Thursday February 26, 2009 12:04PM EST

OK. If you are going to make an analysis of the car industry per minute, then PLEASE give us an analysis of the banking industry also to put it into perspective. Lets not slant it.

franck s
franck s - Thursday February 26, 2009 12:05PM EST

GM stays up for two main reasons. It is an incremental part of military industry and if it were to fall a disproportionate number of black people would become unemployed. GM does not make a single automobile which can stand up to its competitors.

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Thursday February 26, 2009 12:06PM EST

The author of this article most likely drives an import also.

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Thursday February 26, 2009 12:06PM EST

And they still paying that high salary? http://www.salarylist.com/all-real-jobs-salary-at-general-motors-corporation.htm With Detroit income dropping? http://www.incometaxlist.com/michigan-income-tax.htm Amazing!

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Thursday February 26, 2009 12:06PM EST

The company lost that amount. How much of that amount did Mr. Fat Cat pocket? Enquiring minds want to know...

PeterS
PeterS - Thursday February 26, 2009 12:08PM EST

That is an ugly image of myself!!!!

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Thursday February 26, 2009 12:16PM EST

OK question. Is this number actual losses as is money out for operating cost or is it the difference from what was last year's profit?

The World's Worst Stock Picker
The World's Worst Stock Picker - Thursday February 26, 2009 12:16PM EST

GM will be gone before the year is over. http://worldworststockpicker.com

franck s
franck s - Thursday February 26, 2009 12:19PM EST

85 million a day is nothing. The government is now spending about 10,000 million a day.

__A_YAHOO_USER__
__A_YAHOO_USER__ - Thursday February 26, 2009 12:20PM EST

A black President for the very first time? plus economy-building-confidence during an historic downturn too?......isn't that asking for to much, to soon?....I think so....I would suggest digging in for the long-haul on this one. FAR TO MANY VARIABLES WORKING HERE. Am I saying no quick recovery because Obama is black? and that color matters?.....well no one will really ever know for sure, but his extreme Leftest politics is not helping big money feel very confident these days, and quite frankly, BIG MONEY is who I've always worked for, but I'm not so sure a white Liberal could have pulled the rabbit out of this battered hat. I just wish we had been more focused on economic recovery than on making history, that's all....maybe a little more time for Cerebral Cortex development would have helped out.

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Thursday February 26, 2009 12:21PM EST

I get a kick out of the posters who write in to say, "yeah but what did mgmt make at the banks?'. WHO CARES? Just becuase one industry is messed up doesn't mean this one shoudl be too... Let em fail - back any car company with tax breaks / access to capital - who looks like they can stay afloat and drive manufacturing jobs in the US. Those that want Billions and Billions becaus their business models are flawed shoudl be left to fail - they derserve this fate.

Ray
Ray - Thursday February 26, 2009 12:23PM EST

The point is american car companies need to help raise our standard of living. We can buy cheap cars from other places in the world.

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Thursday February 26, 2009 12:23PM EST

Should this company been shut down already??

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Thursday February 26, 2009 12:27PM EST

GM is already done. The taxpayers are just funding the buy outs.

- Thursday February 26, 2009 12:28PM EST

It is stupid to keep feeding them, shut them down to save our money

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Thursday February 26, 2009 12:30PM EST

Does that include the money that has been laundered all over the world? Sounds like the definition of global economies it to take money from the U.S., invested in overseas operations, and claim losses in the U.S.. What is the return on investment to China and other operations outside of North America? The reason CEOs make the big bucks is to manage the business, not to explain why they made wrong investments.

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