FactCheck.org: RW email - 79% of GM’s sales last month (June) was government purchased. FALSE!

[pampango]

There are a few problems with the email featured above. It is not a Bloomberg report, for one thing. Its headline is also incorrect: Government purchases were not 79 percent of all GM sales in June.

What is true is that “GM’s sales to government fleet customers were up 79 percent year over year in June,” according to James Cain, the company’s financial news manager. And those “government” customers include federal, state and local agencies.

Moreover, purchases by GM’s fleet customers, including all government agencies as well as businesses, accounted for less than one-third of the company’s sales in June. An actual July Bloomberg report said that “GM sales to fleet customers, such as governments and rental car companies, rose 36 percent last month, making up 32 percent of the company’s sales.”

GM’s Cain added that “government fleet sales account for only about three percent of GM’s total U.S. sales” from January through July of this year. And about three-fourths of the fleet sales, Cain said, are to state and local agencies, which have been purchasing an increasing amount of police vehicles. Actually, state and local agency purchases are up 36 percent for the year, so far, while purchases by the federal government are down by 3.5 percent, he said.

http://factcheck.org/2012/09/gms-government-sales/

I haven't seen this email yet, but now I'm ready for it.

[Initech]

1. America's right wing: where logic takes a holiday and facts are irrelevant!