GM filed bankrupcy.

[panic]

Unfortunately, our new masters, the People's Republic, are watching this very closely.
The Dear Leader sent the Keebler Elf to answer their questions recently, and they asked "are Chinese investments safe?" - expecting an actual answer.
He, of course, served Kool-Aid and said "yes, fine, no problem".
The entire room laughed.
Why is this important?
Because we have until about 11/1/09 to raise $1.9T. Here are the choices:
1. convince the Chinese (who now think we throw money away) to lend it to us at a far higher rate (double taxes, anyone?), or
2. print it

For those to whom economics consists of listening to the "experts" (those whose incompetence caused this), there is a big difference between depression (which we already have) and inflation (which Obama will now cause to delay the problem until all his friends are happy).

"Depression" means what you already have is even more valuable, but only those with money will make any more.

"Inflation" means everything you have (savings, pension, investment) is worthless. There's an old saying about this, which dates from other and somewhat larger catastrophes (Black Plague, 30 Years War): "What I spent, I had. What I saved, I lost".

Which would you prefer (although I don't think the question is on the table)?

[SPARKY]

ME thinks me need to try to find a cave on some native american reservation and try to convince them to let me stay, ----at least in AZ I presently have some options!!!!

[Milwaukee Midget]

I haven't heard a peep about Corvette-- what's going to happen to them?

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

Hey, Neil,

Last week they looked safe

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=149190

I wouldn't expect to see much R&D on 'em for a while, though.

Holden is looking okay for now.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090601-715703.html

Regards,

Chris

[manta22]

Thanks, Chris. I hope they do survive.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[55chevr]

As it obvious that the bankruptcy was inevitable for GM why did the government advance 50 billion to avoid bankruptcy 3 months ago?

[SPARKY]

pay offs to the Socialist Democrats voting unions

[Milwaukee Midget]

Key to this will be getting GM on its feet quickly.  They're going to be able to write off most of their former obligations, and I suspect they will want to dissolve their financial arrangement with the US Government ASAP. 

Two examples from the past - Chrysler paying off their government backed loans early to get out from under government oversite, and Harley-Davidson asking that the tariffs on foreign bikes be lifted once they righted their ship - lead me to believe that this will be the historical model GM will follow.

Fritz Henderson doesn't come across as the kind of guy who wants to be the Commissar of a nationalized collective industrial/government amalgamation, and it's in the best interest of GM management, the Federal Government, the UAW, and all the rest of us to be done with this bailout quickly.

Chris 

[Roadster943]

   Toyota or Nissan 1/2 to pu may be fine to haul a new lawn mower home but when I head out for BV with 18,000# my Ford F350 is more than up for the task. The  Toyota or Nissan just aren't going to cut it. I drive a 95 1/2 ton chevy every day, 100,000 miles on it, my wifes 97 Rav4 toyota with 78000 miles had a water pump fail last year with no warning and it is driven by the timing belt. It took out the timing belt. The wrecker took it to toyota and $1000 later it was back on the road for 2 months before the belt failed again, not toyotas fault, but a tech problem, good news no charge to us this time outside the tow bill. The chevy 1/2 tons repairs to date have been, wiper module, (common as per Jon) heater hoses and I did water pump at that time (90000mi) , throtle position sensor, 4wd engage solenoid in front end (another common problem)  no tow bills and everything else fixed at my convienance. The 97 f350. 78000 mi and no repairs. Typical results? Maybe not but don't try to tell me that the big 3 are not building a fine product.  Vince

[Dean Los Angeles]

A Chinese company is to buy Hummer, the General Motors brand known for its military-inspired off-road vehicles and seen as a symbol of gas-guzzling, road-hogging American excess.

Hummer’s sale to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company will close this year, marking one of the biggest overseas acquisitions in carmaking by a Chinese group.

GM on Tuesday confirmed the sale to Tengzhong, a privately-owned producer of road, construction and energy industry equipment.

[wobblywalrus]

One of our local dealers has GM, Toyota, and a few other makes.  In 2008 I looked at the new trucks.  The paint is peeling off of a lot of the GM vehicles in our neighborhood, especially the white ones.  Some are almost new.  I was afraid to buy a GM product because I did not want to repaint it, but I wanted to buy American.

There were stickers on the trucks listing the percentage of American content.  A little Toyota Tacoma had an American content percentage that was higher than some of the GM trucks and it was assembled in Fremont, California.  The tires were Firestones.  Eventually I bought it and have had no troubles with it.

Don't give up on American made stuff.  It is out there for sale, it is good quality, but it might have a foreign name on it.   

[A2WindTunnel]

GM (Government Motors) proudly introduces the 2010 Obama

[Brian Westerdahl]

It even has telapromters

[panic]

Somehow, the analysis does not show the cost per GM job saved: it's well over $1 million each.
Since they will continue to lose money, why not cut the losses and ask the workers (since the stockholders and bondholders are already SOL) whether they wouldn't prefer to take $1 million each (no unemployment, no pension, no benefits - just $1M) and burn it down?

Because the answer would be yes, and the UAW would be finished as a criminal enterprise.

Obama doesn't want to "fix" the problem, and he wouldn't know how in any event - he's never had a job, never ran a business, and (based on his appointments: Holder, Napolitano, Geithner, Sibelius) would avoid hiring anyone who could.

[panic]

"write off most of their former obligations": make my children pay for them.

[Milwaukee Midget]

"write off most of their former obligations": make my children pay for them.

Actually, it looks as though it's GM's pre-filing debt-holders, suppliers, stockholders, dealers and the UAW that are going to take the beat-down. 

GM will want to wash their hands of this unholy taxpayer/shareholder/government/UAW/Canadian alliance post haste, and their clearest path will be to pay us back as soon as possible.  They can do that by building good vehicles with decent margins and lowered labor costs - something filing Chapter 11 will let them do. 

Chrysler paid their government loans back early in the 1980's, in part to get out from under the feds.  I see no reason why a right-sized GM won't follow suit. 

I really don't think there is a Chevy Trabant in our future, and I doubt that our kids will get stiffed over this.