Posted on 02/14/2009 9:14:43 AM PST by Brilliant
General Motors Corp., nearing a federally imposed deadline to present a restructuring plan, will offer the government two costly alternatives: commit billions more in bailout money to fund the company's operations, or provide financial backing as part of a bankruptcy filing, said people familiar with GM's thinking.
The competing choices, which highlight GM's rapidly deteriorating operations, present a dilemma for Congress and the Obama administration. If they refuse to provide additional aid to GM on top of the $13.4 billion already committed they risk seeing an industrial icon fall into bankruptcy...
Treasury Department officials believe GM needs at least $5 billion more in U.S. loans to keep operating beyond the first quarter, said people familiar with the situation...
Negotiations with GM's unions and bondholders haven't yet produced commitments to concrete concessions as required by terms of the federal loans; talks are expected to continue over the holiday weekend. People involved in the talks say progress has been slowed by the fact the Obama administration has yet to appoint a "car czar," as envisioned by the bailout program...
Negotiations with the United Auto Workers union and a bondholders committee have been slow for several reasons. For one, both expressed frustration over the amount of sacrifice they are being asked to take...
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger has been asking the Obama administration for more time to negotiate with the auto makers. Mr. Gettelfinger, a strong supporter of Mr. Obama's presidential campaign, is also hopeful that the government will take responsibility for some of GM's $47 billion in retiree health care obligations, said people familiar with his thinking...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Scew off GM, Bye Bye Union crooks.
The only time our government is "of, by and for the people" is when there are bills to be paid.
Dump the union and let Toyota take over
I vote for bankruptcy and always have. GM has to get out of those costly union contracts. Bankruptcy is the way to do it.
Apparently the execs at GM have perceived the generous nature of Congress when giving away our money. Where will it end? I suspect it would be less expensive to just commit GM to giving all Americans (free) new cars every year.
Bankruptcy. I can’t believe they are even discussing throwing billions more at this company. People think bankruptcy means going out of business, that is simply not true.
The way the union has set things up, it seems like we’re just dumping money into a black hole to me.
of course Washington will shovel more money at GM-the UAW will tell them to.
Time for the Feds to get into the auto business.
The nationalization of GM is here!
Gee who would ever have guessed that this is the position GM would come back with at their first reporting back to Congress? Wow, I thought for sure they were going to come back and say thanks for that loan a few months back, it completely turned things around. We’re profitable, the unions have agreed to work with us and as a result we see solvency into the future. We don’t require anymore of the taxpayer’s money and expect to be able to pay back the loan in the next 3-5 years!!
I just don’t forsee that happening. The govt will argue we already invested so much, we cant let it go now, just like everything else. too big to fail. The sticking point is the union consessions, just as we knew it would be, and they are the ones who got obama into office. obama will not let his army of voters down. we are screwed....
Hmmm......
So, GM would be smart to reorganize in bankruptcy, eliminating union stuff - but, that would not be aligned with Obama’s plans for more jobs and union support.
GM will get the money.
This is just ridiculous already, This is nothing but corporate welfare in the true sense of the word. Pay a company and it’s workers to sit around and do nothing, redecorate their offices, and build a car or two when they feel like it.
I’m a bankruptcy lawyer. Although it is probably true that GM would survive a bankruptcy, it would be a vastly smaller company when it came out, and a whole lot of jobs would be lost.
In addition, bankruptcy is a collosal waste of money. Lawyers will probably get paid a couple hundred million dollars. A better move would be for Congress to simply impose a solution on GM. Pass a special bankruptcy law reducing the bond debt, eliminating the union contracts, and wiping out the existing stock without the need to argue about it in bankruptcy court. But our Congress is run by fools, so the likelihood of that happening is pretty slim.
Russia had the Lada. I guess the one model GM makes will be called the Bama? Or EL Bama since O-bama will insist it be environmentally ridiculous.
Restructuring plan:Democrats handing out free money get all you can while the getting is good.
Next up the ‘Legacy Costs’ of State and Local Governments who, like the Automakers, have given away the store to employees. These benefits are yet another unfunded mandate that will preclude whatever recovery from this disaster is possible.
Bankruptcy. Then talk about a bailout.
“...$47 billion in retiree health care obligations...”
Let ‘em go on Medicare; the Unions were always big fans of that.
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