DISQUS

mtiffany · 6 months ago

This is a gigantic mistake and is only going to delay the inevitable.

GM should be liquidated, not bailed out and restructured.

Weltallica · 6 months ago

Sure, now that all the millions has been paid out IN FULL to the bosses as "bonuses" that "legally cannot be disputed", they can claim bankruptcy and OH HEY, bankruptcy means all contracts null and void, 2c in the dollar for everyone.

Shocked.

pat · 6 months ago

GM is where penn central railroad was in 1974.

okojo · 6 months ago

Penn Central didn't have hundred of thousands of employees, contractors, sub contractors, dealerships, even HMOs, huge parts of the financial industry dependent on its viability. GM has to be restructured, and basically it has to be reorganized to make money.

As usual, this was years in the making, and the company should had been restructured years ago, but it couldn't because, in many ways it was too big. Ford may have its major problems, but they took some decisions a couple years ago that put them in better shape than GM.

Frank · 6 months ago

Well John, I still cannot believe that. I never thought it could happen either. However, GM is not the only one of that magnitude being dismantled.

Indigo · 6 months ago

After the piracy comes the dismantling and final cash out. All is well, this is just a seismic shift of unparalleled dimensions like a paradigm shift only more so and not a management fairy tale. It'll be fun to look back in, say, twenty-five years. What a story to tell the grandkids!

Ferdiad · 6 months ago

I want to point something out for those that know anything about bankruptcy. The fact that GM is filing (at Obama's direction) in NY is a very bold statement. GM should be filing in Detroit, but they aren't. The government purposely filed this case in the SD of NY, which is a continued nod to Wall Street and the NY elite, rather than mainstream America.

nicho · 5 months ago

WHat's flying under the radar is that Obama's plan includes the provision -- patently illegal -- that the workers' health and pension funds, which are supposed to be exempt, are going to be raided so that Morgan Stanley and Citibank can be paid off in full.

http://www.gregpalast.com/grand-theft-auto-how-...

Sorry about your retirement, Hank, and too bad about your dialysis, but they needed a new champagne bar on the Citi corporate jet.

Christopher Barger · 5 months ago

Hi - this is Christopher Barger from GM. A few people have suggested that we represent a dying, obsolete industry and that our assets should be liquidated. I'd suggest you check out this piece at the Atlantic, suggesting that car ownership is at unsustainably low levels: http://business.theatlantic.com/2009/06/how_gen...

Basically, the automobile is here to stay for the foreseeable future, and our mission is to make them as fuel efficient as possible, something that we have embraced wholeheartedly. Today's filing will allow us to compete in the new auto market with gas-friendly and gas-free products like the Chevy Volt.

Just a couple of thoughts. Thanks for listening.

anon_me · 5 months ago

Forget the downsizing for a second, as awful is it will be for the people, does anybody else find the fact that the Government will be the "reluctant stockholder" of more than 50% of the company's shares a bit ...disturbing?? No...? Nobody? :))