Ken Berwitz

Remember that big news splash about how General Motors is doing so terrifically well that there will be an IPO (Initial Public Offering) of stock, so John and Jane Doe will have a spectacular opportunity to bask in the shared wealth by buying into the company?  What great PR for the Obama administration.

But, as with the revised economic numbers we constantly see during this administration, the ones that never seem to be as good when they are originally reported, here is the revised news on GM.  Excerpted from an article at Reuters:

NEW YORK/DETROIT, Sept 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. government is likely to take a loss on General Motors Co [GM.UL] in the first offering of the automaker's stock, six people familiar with preparations for the landmark IPO said.

Subsequent offerings of the government's holdings may be profitable depending on how investors trade the newly listed stock, the sources said.

But the question of whether taxpayers are ultimately made whole on GM's $50 billion bailout could be left open for years, the people said.

It could take more than three years for the Treasury to sell down its remaining stake in GM after the IPO, one person said. That would push a final accounting into the next presidential term.

Does this look like a sound business decision to you?  Is it making you eager to glom onto some shares of GM?

I'm no financial expert.  But, frankly, this puts my interest in GM stock somewhere between a new Ponzi offering and a stake in Koskot Interplanetary.

But, hey, the administration certainly did get that great publicity last week, didn't they?

So all is well.