[xibalba]

> GM is very healthy and profitable

This seems to be the Crux of the issue. A quick look at the financial statements shows positive net income (though not consistently). The statement of cashflows, which is where companies go bankrupt or not, seems much less positive a story.

My accounting training is limited. Any HN'ers with accounting/finance background care to comment?

[mrfredward]

I'm no accountant, but I think the bulk of the issues is that profits never last in the auto industry. GM trades at a price to earnings of 1/4 of what the market as a whole gets, because investors expect earnings to be negative as soon as a recession hits. GM has cash on hand of 3X its current profits to weather this storm.