Are There Red Flags With GM's Initial Stock Offering?

General Motors executives are playing up bright spots in the company's future as they try to persuade investors to buy stock: a better lineup of cars and trucks, potential for global growth and a new cost structure that enables the company to make money even when the economy dips.

But the world's most charming used car salesman couldn't cover up major concerns hanging over GM's initial public offering on Thursday.

In regulatory filings, GM admits it doesn't have great control over its finances.

Auto analyst Aaron Bragman of IHS Automotive says he thinks General Motors has made the structural changes it needed to make:

"The latest results we've seen is for the best quarter that they've had in six years, the government's involvement in bailing out and restructuring the company cannot really be understated; there has been such a transformational change".

But the IPO process will be more like a drawn-out divorce between GM and taxpayers who bailed out the company during the financial crisis.

It will take more stock offerings before the government is out of the car business.

That means political priorities may trump shareholder demands.

(Copyright 2010. WWJ Newsradio 950. The Associated Press contributed to this story. All Rights Reserved.)