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.

The taxpayer-funded check has barely cleared the bank and GM’s chief is hinting that Congress’ recent gift of $9.4 billion may not be enough. Not only is Wagoner saying the company may need more money, he is telling us that bankruptcy is still an option.

Just last month, however, he vowed it is absolutely not an option. Which is it?

It is the same old story in Detroit. General Motors is running around touting cars that nobody wants and the UAW is squeezing every drop of remaining blood from the company’s cancer-ridden body.

If you have turned on the evening news over the past few days, you have certainly seen the shots from the Detroit Auto Show. Wagoner has been grabbing any media attention he can to show off his company’s shaky billion-dollar investment, the Chevy Volt. The CEO needs to do everything he can to create demand for a $40,000 electric car when crude prices are plummeting.

But even worse than the Volt’s chances of becoming a bestseller are GM’s chances of solidifying a life-saving deal with the UAW. The negotiations between the employer and its employee representative will not start until Monday, but already trouble is brewing.

Here we go again

Ron Gettelfinger, the UAW’s fearless leader (I mean that in a bad way), told reporters that he wants Obama to remove some of the concessionary terms placed in Congress’ recent bailout legislation. In other words, the UAW does not want to negotiate.

We should not expect the UAW to be cooperative over the next few weeks. But it may not matter. Already, there is at least one bill making its way through Capitol Hill that will lower the requirements and terms of the loan furnished through the Treasury’s TARP.

Talk about changing the rules in the middle of the game. This is one big political fiasco.

When we boil away all the fat, this subject really is not about cars, the Big Three, or American workers. It is about politicians shoring up their next election. The contingency that can deliver the most votes will emerge the winner.

As investors, there are two ways to look at this situation. We can take a short-term stance and be ready to trade the news. Or we can look at the long-term stance and short the heck out of GM.

Either way, investing in GM is less about fundamental value and is increasingly becoming more of a political bet. That is something no investor should be comfortable with. Remember, dollar and cents add up. Politicians do not.

If you thought the GM story ended when it received its bailout, you had better think again. That was merely the end of the first chapter. There is much more on the way.

Source: Why won’t they just go away