When Congress sent General Motors (NYSE:GM) its first “bailout” check worth $4 billion earlier this month, few folks thought it would do the company much good.

But even fewer thought the company would be crying for help so quickly.

I am not one to pick on a company’s management and blame all of its problems on its top decision makers. Until recently, I said very little about Detroit’s CEOs. After all, they were dealt a bad hand from the start.

But my opinion of respect is waning fast. In fact, I am starting to think the Big Three are run by a set of incompetent suites that are nearly mirror images of our even more incompetent elected politicians. For proof, look at the so-called detailed business plans the automakers handed Washington today.

Detroit is once again on its knees in Washington begging for help. The nation’s automakers are desperate to paint a dire picture of their financial woes.

Whether their pleas are founded or are merely lame attempts at grabbing some free advertising is up to you to decide. To me, it is all a show. After all, the Big Three have not had this much free TV time since the last time they were begging for a handout.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) has become so fat trying to save it would be the equivalent of cutting apart a mobile home to free the monstrously obese woman clinging to a bucket of fried chicken inside.

Yes, the federal government can extend a huge bailout to Detroit and the companies that have been sucking at its overweight teats, but sometimes cutting the fat lady out of a trailer does much more harm than good.

Income investors have little to cheer about these days, with profits plunging and dividends getting slashed, but there are some glimmers of hope.

When a long-term stalwart Blue Chip like General Electric (NYSE:GE) steps out its corporate front door and tells investors to plan on their dividend payments throughout the next year, investors pay attention. When that $0.31 per quarter dividend leads to a yield of over 10%, smart investors call their brokers and grab some shares.

Wise investors have traditionally headed for real estate investment trusts (REITs) for their regular, sizeable dividends. Over the past two years, we have grown accustomed to bi-annual payments of 6%, 8% or even 10% of share price.

What if I could tell you one REIT is currently paying over 350%? You would think it is too good to be true.

After wave upon wave of layoff notices and factory closures, Ford (NYSE:F) employees are celebrating a re-hiring event. Thanks to Ford re-starting its 2009 F-150 truck line, nearly 1,000 workers will be stamping their time card.

Ford is making a risky move. After all, its truck sales were down 27% last month and many experts say we have yet to reach a bottom in the industry. But company executives see a profit opportunity.

You have to search the equities market pretty hard to find any companies still trading at overvalued prices, but if you look hard enough they are still out there.

One of them is making headlines today. Thanks to the company’s better-than-expected earnings report, shares of Under Armour (NYSE:UA) are trading significantly higher.

Financial crises like the one we are enduring tend to have a mind of their own. While the talking heads on TV will quote historic recessionary trends or technical trading wisdom, their market wisdom is rarely wise.

Just as no two bull markets are the same, no two bears are alike. If they were, figuring out what will happen tomorrow, or the next day, or next year would be easy.

It is a fact that the real estate industry has historically been a leading indicator of the American economy. When it falls, Wall Street falls. When home prices rise, so does the Street. If that continues to be the case, the American economy is on the rebound.

For proof, look at yesterday’s new-home sales figures released by the Commerce Department. Compared to sales in August, the amount of new homes that sold in September rose by an unexpectedly high figure of 2.7%.

Wall Street seemed a bit surprised this morning, but I certainly am not. Every time my cell phone rings, I am reminded of one of the nation’s most powerful industries… telecom.

When Verizon (NYSE:VZ) reported strong earnings this morning, I was ready for the news. Besides, I was too busy writing an $85 check to the company to be surprised it is making lots of money. After reading today’s report, it is obvious I am not the only one shelling out cash each month.

If you have ever bought a house and could not come up with the standard 20% down payment, you may know a thing or two about private mortgage insurance ((PMI)). In fact, you probably paid thousands of dollars during the first ten or fifteen years of your mortgage in premiums to buy the unfamiliar insurance.

Millions of homebuyers are required to have PMI, yet few folks know much about it. They know even less about the companies they are writing checks to each month.

We are in the heart of earnings season, and as you can tell by the plunging Dow and dropping oil prices, the reports are not great and the forecasts are even worse. But there are a few bright spots out there.

Notably, McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) beat Wall Street estimate and showed a hefty increase in third-quarter revenues (see conference call transcript). Analysts were expecting earnings per share of $0.98, but the company showed profits of $1.05 per share. The earnings came on revenues of $1.19 billion, a year-over-year increase of about 11%.

Sometimes you have to wonder what goes through the head of some of the world’s most renowned investors. Is it possible that billionaires make emotional moves just like so many other everyday investors?

While billionaires certainly make the same mistakes you and I make. I do not think that is the case with Kirk Kerkorian.

One of my old favorites is making headlines this week. Well, actually there is no news surrounding the company, but Arbinet-thexchange (NASDAQ:ARBX) is getting lots of attention as its share price suddenly jumped by 30%.

This is a company you should be aware of. Arbinet is a very unique business that has created an exchange for telecommunications capacity. Basically, think of it as a stock exchange for bandwidth. It is a tiny company (market cap: $71 million with Monday’s 30% increase) with a potentially huge product.

If you are a CEO and even thinking about hinting at some sort of merger or acquisition in this market, you had better be certain you know what you are doing.

Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) chief, Steve Ballmer, learned the lesson the hard way today.

I love it when the data proves I was right. Call me egotistical. Call me arrogant. Just do not call me wrong.

Just a few days ago, I wrote about how the housing slowdown has reached its lowest point. I told readers that some real-estate investment trusts (REITs) look downright promising. I also warned that others were in extremely dangerous territories.

Somebody better call up General Motors (NYSE:GM) and warn it about its huge mistake. The company, which is so huge that it takes a decade to react to an evolving market, is about to significantly cut the production of its full-size lineup.

It does not realize these are going to be some of the best selling cars in the next few years. Make more Hummers, not Volts. The company is making a huge mistake.

America is a changed beast. What once was a country willing to go to war over democracy and free markets is now a country forcing its way into banking-industry ownership.

Picture the scene: Banking executives from across the country are gathered up, forced in a small room, and lined up in alphabetical order. Government officials, already in the room, slide a piece of paper in front of each banker.

Last week I wrote about the very real possibility that the real estate market has reached its bottom. This week, the headlines are proving my forecast was dead-on accurate.

Just a few days after investors were wailed by talks of gloom and doom across all arms of the economy, the situation in the real estate market is looking much, much more positive.