Good News About America

So General Motors announced Tuesday that it earned a $1.3 billion profit in the second quarter of this year, its strongest performance since 2004 and a half-billion dollar increase over last quarter’s profit of $865 million. Revenue increased as well, to $33.2 billion. GM ended the quarter with $32.5 billion in cash and marketable securities on hand, setting it up for an initial stock offering. It has also obtained a $5 billion line of credit.

GM has already repaid $6.7 billion in Treasury Department loans, but the rest of the $50 billion bailout was converted into equity; the US owns 60.8% of GM. The government is expected to begin selling its stake in GM as soon as the initial public offering is made, which could come as early as Friday.

In related news, Ford posted a $2.6 billion profit for the second quarter; Chrysler lost $172 million, which was a $25 million improvement over the previous quarter (and a huge improvement over the fourth quarter of last year, when it lost $2.7 billion).

BP announced today that it has made the initial $3 billion deposit into the $20 billion recovery fund, nearly two months ahead of the September 30th due date. No final cost estimate has been offered, but the company’s expenses due to the spill have already exceeded six billion dollars.

BP drilling crews have also nearly finished a relief well that should allow them to permanently plug up the formerly leaking well; drilling temporarily stopped so engineers can check that it is still correctly aimed at the broken well. The well was previously sealed by pouring thousands of gallons of mud and cement through the containing cap that has been containing the oil since mid-July, but that is considered a temporary fix; the new well, which should intersect next weekend, will allow the leak to be permanently sealed.