Full Disclosure: My Father is a Retired General Motors Worker and U.A.W. Member.
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It sure as heck looks that way to me here.
The reason I ask this question is because a new report from CNBC that the new C.E.O. of GM is essentially saying that bankruptcy is the only option:
General Motors’s new chief executive told CNBC that filing for Bankruptcy may be the best option for the struggling automaker.
In a taped interview to be aired tonight on NBC Nightly News, Fritz Henderson said that because of greater demands from the Obama administration to restructure, GM is considering the bankruptcy option. The auto giant previously had ruled out such a move, saying it would discourage people from buying GM cars.
Henderson’s comments came after President Obama bluntly rejected turnaround plans by GM and Chrysler and demanded that both companies make fresh concessions in order to get more federal aid.
Henderson, who was GM’s president and chief operating officer, was named the new CEO after the government forced the resignation of CEO Rick Wagoner on Sunday. GM’s board is also being restructured.
Henderson told reporters that the company would still prefer to restructure outside of court, but the level of support Washington is offering would help the company quickly restructure through bankruptcy.
Henderson says GM needs to work faster and go deeper to get more concessions from bondholders and the United Auto Workers union. President Obama has demanded that GM come up with a better restructuring plan in 60 days in order to qualify for more government aid.
I find it very interesting that President Obama, instead of doing the dirty deed himself, ousted the CEO of G.M. and basically has let the new G.M. head honcho be his fall guy for basically screwing the bond holders and also the unions. This way, Barry comes off clean. It is a strategy that is quite slick, quite risky; but none the less slick.
The Wall Street Journal has more:
Inside a windowless, ornate room Thursday just across from the Oval Office, President Barack Obama and a group of senior economic advisers began the job of remaking the American automobile industry.
The first order of business: Oust General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Rick Wagoner.
It “wasn’t the hardest decision,” said one government official.
Steven Rattner, a former investment banker who is heading the administration’s auto restructuring; chief economic adviser Lawrence Summers; and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner were among those gathered around the polished wood table of the Roosevelt Room in the White House’s West Wing. They were there to decide under what conditions the government would continue to prop up once-powerful Detroit car companies GM and Chrysler LLC.
In the post-World War II boom, they were at the pinnacle of a quintessentially American industry. At Thursday’s meeting, once the Obama administration concluded the pair were running out of money, their effective dismantling began.
Beyond seeking Mr. Wagoner’s resignation, the officials also gave failing grades to GM and Chrysler for the restructuring plans they submitted to the government Feb. 17. They also set a deadline — one month for Chrysler, two months for GM — after which the government might force a bankruptcy restructuring of both companies and break up two of America’s business icons.
Many of GM’s problems didn’t start during Mr. Wagoner’s term, and most predate the economic downturn that sent car sales slumping, such as union contracts and the costs of paying for retiree health care. GM made a bad situation worse with huge bets on trucks and SUVs that piled up on dealer lots amid soaring gas prices last year.
While I will be the first to tell you, that General Motors has had its own share of issues. What Barack Obama did to G.M. and by proxy to the Union members and Employees of the company; was just flat out cowardly. Instead of forcing General Motors into bankruptcy himself. Obama is allowing the new head honcho of the company and his Auto Czar; do it for him. This way Obama does not burn through his political capital as quickly and more or less comes out looking like the hero. Of course, President TelePrompter will say that he inherited this mess, and by rights he did. But to pass off the basic executing of a company and it’s people to someone else, is quite the cowardly move in my book.
Hey Barry, If you ever happen to read this; Grow some freaking Gonads,will ya? I mean, come on. If you going to screw the American worker; why not do it yourself? Instead of letting your damned patsies do it for you. Just a thought.
