"Treasury's own analysis suggests that the circumstances necessary for the companies to reach market capitalizations high enough for Treasury to fully recovery its equity investments are unlikely," a Government Accounting Office report on the taxpayer-funded bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler found.

The problem is this: In order for taxpayers on General Motors to be made whole, GM will have to hit a market capitalization of $66.9 billion.

The highest GM's market cap has ever been is $57 billion -- and that was in 2000, when circumstances were very, very different.

The five most senior General Motors (NYSE: GRM) executives, along with the 20 next highest-paid employees, are going to see their cash compensation fall $3.9 million (31%) on a year-over-year basis.

The decision was made by the "independent master" that was appointed to set pay and stock levels for those in charge of companies that have received a majority of the funding from the federal government. GM is not on its own, as top execs at GMAC (the company's financing arm) and Chrysler will see their compensation cut as well.

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that "General Motors Co.'s search for an outsider to replace its chief financial officer is being complicated by the pay restrictions the Treasury Department is imposing on companies that received large bailouts from the federal government, according to people familiar with the matter."

GM is expected to be able to offer its CFO a pay package consisting of a significant amount of stock (Hah!) but a salary of only about $1 million per year -- not much for a company of GM's size and problems. Plus, ya gotta live in Detroit and work with Fritz Henderson.

China has taken its first major step into the U.S. car market as General Motors announced it had finalized a deal to sell off its Hummer truck brand to Chinese auto manufacturer Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery.

Under the deal, GM will continue to make the trucks no later than 2010. While a deal has been reached, it is still going to be up to Chinese regulators to approve the deal and decide if the brand can be profitable and fit into the country's overall national strategy to improve energy efficiency.

Mark LaNeve has been dismissed as General Motors' North American sales chief as the company looks to reverse a sales decline that has been driving tanking market share in the North American market. On a conference call with investors, CEO Fritz Henderson said that the company would "benefit from fresh perspective" on marketing in the United States.

For the third quarter of 2009, GM's US market share fell to 19.5% -- down from 22.1% in the prior year quarter.

After an enormous amount of hype and wasted PR-money, General Motors is ending its car-selling partnership with eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) after dealers reported that the program didn't spur sales and led to a raft of low-ball offers that didn't go anywhere.

By far my favorite quote from the Wall Street Journal coverage (subscription required) of this development: "We thought the program was successful but that this was not the right time," GM sales chief Mark LaNeve said.

A123 Systems (NASDAQ: AONE) got its start back in 2001 in Dr. Yet-Ming Chiang's laboratory in MIT. Along with two others -- Gilbert N. Riley, Jr., and Ric Fulop -- he saw a huge opportunity to build new battery technology. While it took six years to hit the market, it was well worth the effort.

Today, A123 launched its IPO (here's a profile on the deal). The company sold 28.1 million shares at $13.50 each. With this slug of capital, A123 can continue to build out its operations and capitalize on the growth opportunities.

The past couple of months there has been a lot of news over the government's recent "cash for clunkers" program, which was wildly more successful than anyone could have imagined, but left dealer lots short on inventory. General Motors dealers are still dealing with low inventory and have requested more cars to meet recent demand.

According to the Detroit News, General Motors dealers have requested that the company ship as much as four times as many cars as the company had planned to build in October.

Data analysis of the government's Cash for Clunkers program is beginning to surface. That analysis, coupled with some not too impressive projections, is beginning to paint a murky, if not dismal, picture of the auto industry's future. I read an excellent break down of the data, which was provided by Michelle Krebs via Edmunds Automotive Network.

First off, some analysts are claiming that while the Clunkers program did boost auto sales for the month of August, those sales were most likely moved forward on the calendar by auto buyers who were already contemplating a purchase. The supposition is that these consumers simply bought earlier to reap their government vouchers (you're welcome). Dismal September sales numbers are being projected for auto makers.

The Congressional Oversight Panel reported on Wednesday that most of the $23 billion in taxpayer funds provided to General Motors and Chrysler is unlikely to be repaid. The Congressional Budget Office estimated in June that taxpayers would lose $40 billion of the first $55 billion provided to the auto industry.

The Treasury Department acknowledges that most of the $23 billion provided by the Bush Administration is likely gone forever, but added that there is a "reasonably high probability of the return of most or all of the government funding" provided by the Obama administration.

To the surprise of many, China is now a major player in the world automobile market. Vehicle sales have risen 28% so far this year.

Full-year sales may reach 12 million vehicles, according to Chen Bin, director of the industry. Compare this to U.S. sales, which may reach 10.5 million this year.

Unlike Commissioner Gordon who can send out the Bat signal to call his helpmate against crime, there is nothing investors can do to summon aid in times of stress. They have to go it alone. But they can be armed with intelligence that helps. Here are few of the most prominent data points that will make a difference for all stocks, a macro perspective that should make navigating the stock market highway a little easier.

However, taken on a one-time basis, these aren't going to solve the mystery that is the market. Rather, data has to show a trend before it can be used. Even then, a trend stops and another begins. So even though the trend can be your friend, it can just as easily turn and become your enemy. As they used to say on Hill Street Blues: Be careful out there.

Sales of vehicles from the new General Motors Co. fell more than 20% in August, compared to the same time last year. Of course, a lot has changed in that year. Customers were flocking away from car dealers at the end of last summer as the recession tightened its grip, consumers tightened their wallets, and car sales and associated activities were in the toilet.

Fast forward a year later: GM recently exited bankruptcy as the "new GM" while having jettisoned quite a bit of the baggage that helped push it over the edge earlier this year. GM is still digging itself out of a hole, and the just-completed "Cash for Clunkers" U.S. government subsidy helped it not have a 40% decline year-over-year compared to August 2008.

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that "An effort to sell General Motors Co. cars through eBay Inc.'s (NASDAQ: EBAY) online market is generating some leads for participating auto dealers but hasn't yet sparked a spurt in sales, dealers said."

In the program's first week, there were 2,400 offers that led to negotiations, but the companies declined to say how many of those actually culminated in sales -- which is never a good sign. The fact that the GM site on eBay is not a traditional auction site makes it difficult to gauge how many sales it's leading to. People submit offers on the site and then negotiate with individual dealerships to arrive at a sale price.

If you are one of the investors out there watching General Motors stock each day trying to pick the perfect time to buy the stock... don't! For whatever reason, people have continued to buy General Motors stock, despite the fact that the company and the government have issued warnings that the stock is destined to be worthless.

I read an interesting article that reported yesterday there were 12.6 million shares of General Motors traded. Maybe people do not realize that the company went into bankruptcy, or maybe they are just trying to profit off of traders that are not aware that this is not new General Motors stock, but the volumes are a bit curious.