The Wall Street Journal estimates GM will sell as much as $23 billion in stock Wednesday evening, beating out two Chinese banks and Visa Inc. in the process.

Some analysts see the offering as a sign that GM, and the U.S. auto industry on the whole, has made a stable rebound.  Jill Lawrence at Politics Daily wrote:

"GM has just reported its third straight profitable quarter, one of many signs that the U.S. auto industry is here to stay. And Americans appear to be growing fonder of U.S. products, or at least feeling more loyal. In a new Rasmussen poll, 41 percent said buying American is their top consideration when making a car purchase. That's up from 32 percent in 2008. Gallup, meanwhile, says 6 percent of Americans will only buy a foreign car -- down from 15 percent in 2008." 

When President Obama continued to support automakers GM and Chrysler after taking office, the American public was quite upset.  In total, the federal government lent GM about $50 billion and became a 61 percent owner of the company.

The IPO will change that, and American taxpayers will own a minority of GM shares.  It is expected that the Treasury will be fully divested from the company by the next Presidential term:

"Obama administration officials have argued that it would represent a kind of success if the White House breaks even only on the $30 billion that it committed to GM. Just over $19 billion in funding came from the Bush administration. The GM bailout spared the automaker from liquidation and saved hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs at the company and its suppliers, officials have said."