The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Call It GM’s Fairy Tale

Apr 2, 2007

Last year, when GM wanted concessions from its workers, it restated six years of financial results in order to show increased losses. This year, when GM wanted to impress Wall Street, it restated its earnings to show that it has more profits. And we can be sure–before the contract comes up in September, there will still be another set of restated figures!

None of the numbers they are throwing around can be taken seriously.

If we really want to judge how much money a company like GM is making, we only have to look at how much GM pays out to its big stockholders and executives. In the past three years, that is, the years of so-called big financial losses, cash dividends to big stockholders amounted to about ONE BILLION dollars a year, on average. Top executives of the company were just as generously rewarded. CEO Dick Wagoner made 28 million dollars in three years!

These numbers tell the truth about GM’s financial health. It is rolling in money!