General Motors Continues Collapse, Posts Huge Q4 Loss

GM's auditors will be reviewing the details of the company's financial situation through the month of March to determine whether or not the company is going to be able to stay afloat for the foreseeable future. Already having posted an annual loss of $30.9 Billion for 2008, the company is going to struggle to survive through the increasingly difficult economic climate.

General Motors' executives are in Washington, DC to meet with the Obama administration's auto task force and to discuss possible additional government funds to help stabilize the company. The company has already received 13.4 billion in government loans since the start of 2009 and will likely receive more in the coming weeks, even though it seems unlikely the capital infusion will be enough to save the company.

GM is scrambling to restructure its operational infrastructure, along with many of the other U.S. automakers. The existing model of high labor costs and redundant auto branding has proven to be incapable of withstanding periods of economic distress.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the situation is that in the 4 to 6 years prior to the current economic downturn, the U.S. was in its greatest spending period in history. Were the sales during that time not enough to sustain a 2-year run of weakness? Where did that revenue go? As General Motors' attempts to answer these and other questions, they'll be lucky if they end up in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.