Now that the results of the U.S. bank stress tests are finally in the books, the extent of the capital shortfalls are known and – in many cases – are actually being addressed.

Consumer Credit Falls to Record Low in March; GM Burns Through $10.2 Billion in First Quarter; Commercial Mortgage Delinquencies Soar to 11-Year High; Retailers Report Better-Than-Expected Sales in April; FBI Will Add More Agents for White-Collar Crime; Boeing Loses Dream Deal

“GM burns through $10 billion” reads the headline. Surprising no one, “Government Motors” continues to destroy wealth at a record pace.

Ford Invests in Smaller, Greener Cars; Payroll Cuts Better Than Expected; Saab Open to Fiat Takeover; Canada’s March Building Permits Surge; eBay CEO: Skype Worth More Than $2 Billion; Hertz Wants to Lease 20% of Fleet From Car Companies; Crude Tops $56; Eddie Bauer in Play

Auto and mortgage lender GMAC LLC (NYSE: GKM) reported a first-quarter loss of $675 million and now faces further pressure from bank “stress tests” and freefalling sales volumes that may push its former parent General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) into bankruptcy.

In the newspapers there is much discussion of what General Motors (NYSE:GM) should do. This discussion has gone on for many years. Until now, it was a conversation carried on by serious analysts and auto industry experts. They all said the same thing: GM needed to clear out its management, dump much of its expensive, “legacy” overhead, and produce better cars. Why didn’t it do so?

Barring some dramatic – and unforeseen – news this week, expect investors to tread water until Thursday, when the government is expected to release the results of the bank stress tests it conducted on the 19 largest U.S. banks.

This could get ugly. Another month, another 600k+ jobs expected to be lost. This would mark the 16th straight month of job losses, just one month short of the longest streak in history.

BEIJING, The People’s Republic of China – At a time when the rest of the global auto sales are experiencing their biggest declines in decades – and are set to drop at least 8% globally – the burgeoning China auto market may grow by 10% or more this year.

The other day I had lunch with a “brain trust,” of sorts.  Participants included a retired executive from an aerospace company.  This guy helped design and build many of the reconnaissance satellites that the U.S. has launched.  There was a senior executive from a large steel company.  There was a venture capitalist who made his first $500 million in the software industry, and who now has much of that wealth spread around in biotech and nanotech startups.  There was a former senior political appointee who worked in the Treasury Department.  And then there was me.