GM sweetens blue-collar buyouts after posting record $38.7 billion loss

General Motors Corp. today announced it will offer beefed-up retirement incentives of up to $62,500 to its most senior hourly workers, to make way for lesser-paid new hires under a deal struck with its union. The news came as GM reported a record annual loss of $38.7 billion, almost all of which came from a massive tax write down the automaker took last fall. -
How is it possible to loose that much money?