How to Bail Out General Motors
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on November 18th, 2008 5:29 am by HL
How to Bail Out General Motors
WASHINGTON — So it’s come to this: General Motors, once the world’s mightiest industrial enterprise, is now flirting with bankruptcy. Ford and Chrysler may not be far behind. Car and truck sales have collapsed. With cash reserves rapidly falling, GM may soon be unable to pay its bills. Here’s the dilemma. GM and other U.S. automakers ought to be rescued to minimize damage to the economy; but the rescue should require tough conditions that neither the Democratic Congress nor the incoming Obama administration yet supports. In a booming economy, a GM bankruptcy might be tolerable and useful. It would remind everyone of the social costs of mediocre management and overpriced unionized labor. But far from booming, the economy is declining at an apparently accelerating rate. By one survey, confidence among small businesses is at a 28-year low; in October retail sales dropped a stunning 2.8 percent.
