Are you a hog for yield?  If so, General Motors (GM) bonds are a screaming buy.  The automaker is in absolute distress, but the government has your back.  Why not take a shot at some very juicy returns here?

General Motors has given voice to a reality long recognized by observers and analysts around the world: the U.S. auto industry is doomed for oblivion without fundamental changes in their operations.

The announcement that GM will exhaust its cash reserves by mid-2009, or earlier, merely amplifies the facts already known to the public.

GM is a labyrinthine company without a distinct identity. In addition, General Motors is the personification of the credit tsunami afflicting many industries and companies worldwide.

In the case of GM, and probably many other companies starving for credit and sales, at least a part of the problem has been inflicted by a related company: the untimely tightening of credit standards at General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC), which shut large numbers of previously qualified purchasers out of the automobile purchase market.

GM does have a number of steps it could take to return to being competitive with foreign brands. Reducing its Rube Goldberg array of lines, ramping up the production of fuel-efficient and electric autos and following through or accelerating the retooling and closing of obsolete production facilities are among the steps which are likely to be taken in the coming months.

Will these measures and others previously announced be enough? Only time will tell. But GM has one other tremendous asset which will in all likelihood buy the company extra time to gain new traction in the market…