OT GM bailout

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote in message
...
Larry L wrote:
"Ken Fortenberry" wrote
However, the moment the government puts one penny of my tax dollar
into that mess I want a clean sweep. That means fire every damn
executive in the company, tear up the union contracts, void all
deals with suppliers, tell the shareholders "tough ****, you got
nothin'",

Well, I don't really know much about bankruptcy ( and don't understand
what I know ;-) but I've been given the impression that it would, indeed,
force such changes .... whereas just handing them money wouldn't

My point was that Congress shouldn't just hand them the money but
mandate an actual government takeover. With Chapter 11 bankruptcy
the same old nitwits would be in charge of the reorganization and
it'll take an act of Congress to tear up the union contracts.

The only argument against bankruptcy ( like many airlines have ) seems to
be that buyers would be afraid to buy because of uncertainty about future
service/ parts/ and such. To my mind, I'd far prefer to buy from a
trimmed, re-structured, company than one that will use the bailout up in
a couple months and be looking for more, instead of really changing. A
healthy company is far more likely to be there in 15years to supply parts
than a temporarily bailed out one ... IMO


I'm NOT saying "let 'em fail" .... I am saying "let 'em take the routes
available in the system to fix their problems"

That's a good argument, but I don't think the system is capable
of handling such an enormous problem.

--
Ken Fortenberry

Chapter 11 would put the judge in charge. He can tear up the union
contracts, he can toss management. We are not going to lose 10% of the
country's jobs. Either they will survive leaner and functional with a
better business model, or something else will fill their niche.