By John Rosevear; The Motley Fool ~ Nov 10, 2010

Not too many major American corporations inspire as much eye-rolling and ridicule as once-mighty General Motors does these days. It's not hard to understand why, given the company's long history of miss-steps and decline, not to mention its very public rescue by the Feds.

But it might be time to take the General seriously: The company earned $2 billion in the third quarter, it announced on Wednesday, on revenues of $34 billion. That's $1.20 per about-to-be-public share and it puts the company on track to have its first profitable year since 2004.