Surprise, surprise

I know I'm off to a late start today, but I'll try to make it up to all you FOCEs with somewhat more vigorous posting than you've seen over the past few days.

I'll start with the news that General Motors posted a $1.1 billion net loss for the first quarter, and announced that it won't release an earnings forecast for 2005.

As Reuters reports it, the company blames this loss mainly on several one-time charges, although a mounting crisis traceable to union compensation (especially health care costs) and thinning sales in the face of neglected product development form the backdrop for this announcement.

All well and good, although I really don't buy the explanation that attributing the result to one-time charges makes things any better. Just look at the one-time charges described in the article -- reorganizing European operations (because the company has been failing there) and idling a plant in Michigan. They may be one-time expenses, but they point to a longer-term decline if something doesn't happen to turn the company around soon.