re: #360 Ojoe

On the radio news they are bandying about the term “controlled bankruptcy” regarding GM, to try and make it seem more palatable & perhaps not to scare the stock market and the public too much.

Does this ever seem like the start of another great depression.

Not really. GM has been beyond bloated for many, many years, and has resisted all attempts to transform itself into a reasonably sized company. That worked fine while the economy was on the upswing. The fact is that even the tiniest downtick was enough to send GM into a death spiral. Recessions always shake deadwood out of the marketplace, and GM has been a corporate snag for a couple of decades, rotting away from within until the right breeze came along to topple it.

If you haven’t noticed, I blame their management, who are continuing in the same hogs-at-the-trough game they’ve been playing for years even while their company founders beneath them.

Time to quit screwing around. Take the company into bankruptcy, now, and let’s see if the horrendous “ripple effect” everyone’s bleating about really comes to pass. I’m betting it won’t even come close to what’s been projected. GM will continue making and selling cars at some moderately reduced level; job losses will be unpleasant but manageable; and executives at the company will find their stock holdings and options worthless, but their company will be in a stronger position to compensate them for their trouble once they emerge from court protection. Oh, wait! That would mean personally giving something up! We can’t have that!