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Guess this won’t be the day of my hideous failure. Market got obliterated today.

DOW – 678.6 (-7.7%)
NASDAQ – 137.5 (-8.95)
QQQQ $26.94 -$2.18 (-7.49%)

Those 36 Jan puts (strike $29) from $2.20 to $3.45, up almost 60% on the day.
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Bringing it back around to GM, today was one of the all-time worst days for the market…probably not a good day to follow with a trip to Washington to outline your ‘turnaround plan’ and ask for bailout money.

Tomorrow is also november auto sales release day for GM…and all the other manufacturers.

Ramz #69’s statement about the functional show car having headed off to Washington is consistent with what Samantha said to me Wednesday. If you’re interested in what else I learned, my post is here:

http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2054

Rick

Is LG (or whoever) going to produce the pack in the US?

The whole bailout is about protecting union-level pay, which is why the bailout is assured, sooner or later. GM may plan to announce at the hearing that they, with 100% certainty, are going to receive batteries made in the USA.

Anyone know where LG said they were going to make these things, FOR CERTAIN?

On another note, I’m waiting for my usual call from the Pontiac garage…the Pontiac saved up a big repair bill for Christmas so my kids can’t have the presents they wanted. Does anyone want the Over/Under on a 1,000 dollar repair bill?

This will officially send the price of repairs to 30 percent of it’s purchase price, to reach 142,000 miles.

Is GM a great company, or what?

As for betting against the market after a five day run up, that makes sense. However are we not testing the market bottom?

Why not invest in oil futures? All the woolly bears have lots of wool and the berries have been plentiful. Age old signs of a long cold winter. Or is Al Gore right and the cold winters are behind us.

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I’m just not feeling that bottom. I’m not seeing earnings forecasts continually knocked down so the bar set low enough for companies to beat. I’m not seeing the freeing up of credit markets or stabilization of the housing market. I can’t argue with the fact the market had its best week in like…almost a century, but I can’t justify the move in my mind.

I thought we needed to lose more, so I’m ‘hoping’ we retest those lows….in a purely selfish/entertainment sort of way. My ‘what I think’ mindset is in conflict with what I like to see happen for the world, but you have to be objective or you lose.

Your right investing in oil is always a good long term move. However, I think if we experience more short term pain on the markets (like I am forecasting), we can’t also see the rebound of oil simultaneously, they seem to be mutually exclusive things in this environment…so if I am betting the market to drop I can’t take up a contrarian point of view (well, I could if I wanted balance…but I’m just doing this for amusement).

Unfortunately, I believe GM sold off EMD (Electro-Motive Division) a little while back, so they no longer benefit from any railroad boom (which seems sure to happen in this day and age…just look at Amtrak ridership and congestion on the freight railroads).

Anyways, I am trying to remain optimistic about the Volt but it’s hard not to be preoccupied by all this dark economic stuff. I am really rooting for GM. As I have said before, their commitment to the E-Flex has really changed my opinion of them. They seem to genuinely want E-Flex to be a major part of GM’s future, and I believe that despite past wrongs they deserve a chance to get E-Flex to market. It would be such a tragedy for me if they made it this far only to go bankrupt or otherwise fail. Get the Volt in the hands of consumers so they can get hooked on electric propulsion! 2010 cannot come soon enough.

Their only hope of making money is still regular vehicles in the next 5 years. I think GM wants to have EV, but battery technology will NOT allow it any time soon.

2) Toyota and Honda tend to shy away from revolutionary new designs. In fact, Toyota’s stated mantra is evolutionary innovation. That’s why their cars are so reliable and affordable. They don’t take risky bold steps. The only reason they did hybrids was because the American PNGV program scared them into it.
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I just sent some battery to Honda (for my company) for evaluation, they are dead serious about anything that improve MPG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partnership_for_a_New_Generation_of_Vehicles
3) If GM gets bailed out, and they survive, then your tax $$$ will be returned. In other words, the bailout is not giving GM money. It will either be a loan, or a purchase of GM preferred stock. In either case, the U.S. government gets the money back with interest or stock profit if GM survives.
On the other hand, if GM fails, it may well take Chrysler and Ford with them, since many companies that supply parts to all 3 would also go out of business. This would result in 3 million lost jobs, which would cost the U.S. government 4 times as much as the bailout in lost income taxes and unemployment benefits.
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No chapter 11, no success.

So to be clear, the bailout risks $25B in order to save $100B in taxpayer dollars. Yes, the bailout sucks, it’s the lesser of 2 evils.

Any cars going to DC must be on the way by now. Or at least they must be loaded onto the truck.
What would I have done different if I was GM? Well I see the SSR and the Solstice in this thread. I would have put the retractable hard top of the SSR on the Solstice. Maybe even the whole body in smaller proportion. I drooled over both. Both are out of my reach though.

If the above mentioned vehicle also had electrically driven front wheels for a 4wd option, well that would be even cooler. For now I will just watch and see what happens.

As for betting against the market after a five day run up, that makes sense. However are we not testing the market bottom?

Why not invest in oil futures? All the woolly bears have lots of wool and the berries have been plentiful. Age old signs of a long cold winter. Or is Al Gore right and the cold winters are behind us.

My wife also thinks I am nuts as we surely can not afford a Volt, however I am exploring many new parking lots looking for employment. I still remain optimistic.

Cutting edge technology is tough, however we all want it to work. We are here to make it succeed (I could go on and on that!).
Good luck to everybody, the big three and the VOLT!