Government Motors

It's an obvious, inevitable question: GM or Ford? On one view, Ford -- with its solid line of hit products and bailout-free balance sheet -- is the fiscally responsible choice. But the company known until recently as "Government Motors," trading right now in the low $20 range, is turning itself around and qualifies not only as a buy, but a steal.

After its near-miraculous emergence so quickly from bankruptcy, the new GM will certainly make big bucks for investors if it fulfills its potential to beat sales forecasts and earnings expectations. And, no, it wouldn't take another miracle.

A little more than a year ago, bankrupt GM required a massive government bail-out. Today the company began its return to Wall Street by formally filing to hold an IPO. Yet it remains unclear if the once-troubled automaker will be a good investment.

While General Motors wouldn't say exactly when it plans to go public, CEO Ed Whitacre told reporters Thursday that the company plans to file IPO paperwork "in the near future" and plans to sell shares all at once, instead of in smaller chunks.

Obama visits Detroit today to bolster his claims that the $86 billion spent to rescue GM and Chrysler from oblivion was well worth the jobs it has put people into, and the million or more the government says it has saved.