It's never GM's (NYSE:GM) fault. Wagoner blamed those unfair Japanese. Now the problems at GM come from the collapse of the housing bubble? That's what Vice Chairman Bob Lutz told folks in Louisville, Ky. How's this for retch-inducing corporate-speak?
"A lot of people are finding themselves in a position of reduced affordability and that has had an impact, not just on us, but across the industry."
Translation: People don't have fake money to spend, so they're not spending so much fake money.
Of course, a little company called Toyota (NYSE:TM) might not agree with this assessment, after having passed GM in the interesting-but-meaningless mark of vehicles sold.
As a final irony, GM, we should not forget, bears a good deal of the blame for the now-ending funny-money bubble, having hawked all sorts of loans while the hawking was good. When the easy money dried up, GM tried to dump the biz, or at least half of it. The chunk that remains is "under pressure," thanks to defaults on loans made to people with bad credit. (Wow, no one coulda seen that comin', eh?)
Why would GM think that consumers, when faced with the end of easy money, would stop paying their bills and stop buying new stuff? And why would management think this works as an excuse?
Comments? Bring them here.
At the time of publication, Seth Jayson had no positions in any company mentioned here. See his latest blog commentary here. View his stock holdings and Fool profile here. Fool rules are here.
