The GM bankruptcy will ripple thoughout the economy as dealers close, as parts suppliers lose contracts and plants shut down. There are a number here in Central Jersey. The question is this: How many will be left when the smoke from this collapse clears?
This is not a criticism of the government’s handling of this — I honestly do not know if this makes sense, if they should have let it crumble away completely or acted more quickly. There is a lot of political risk with that goes along with this, along with an even steeper economic risk.
Cross your fingers, America. GM’s bankruptcy signals that we are not out of the woods — not by the longest of stretches.
Hank Kalet 
What?It\’s obvious, the gooferment will be running a car company for the benefit of Obama\’s, and the Democrat\’s, biggest supporter — the UAW. We have just reached the logical conclusion of American Socialism. The productive have had their wealth stolen (i.e., the secured bond holders had their wealth seized by a gooferment theft) and that is a signal to the productive to stop producing.Anyone who buys a bond must now include a political risk premium. Just as one would if you were investing in a bananna republic. The politicians and bureaucrats are spending \”money\” (Although it is hard to call a Federal Reserve Banknote money, when it is intrinsically worthless.) that has to be either borrowed (Who will lend?) or printed (Zimbabwe Inflation?). Who would be so foolish as to \”lend\” the Federal Goooferment anything?It\’s going down. It will be hard. The only question is can Americans rebound?
Hey, I\’ll take your worthless Federal Reserve Banknote money off your hands.Are all libertorians anti-union? What a silly question, of course they are. Basically, libertarians are pro rich, pro management and anti-working class. That makes libertarians hypocrites because they claim to be for absolute freedom, so shouldn\’t workers have the right to form unions? Libertarians have plenty of empathy for the rich, the powerful, the CEO class and all the rest of the greedy scum who buy the best government that suits the needs of the Steve Forbes. crowd. The free marketeers have the money, the clout, the lobbyists and the lawyers to influence government and to purchase the laws that will make them even richer, at the expense of the rest of us. Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist, works for the people and does not take corporate money. Bernie Sanders is worth a whole bus load of gold plated smug arrogant libertarians. Dennis Kucinich, not a socialist, is a feisty fighter for ordinary working Americans.I have no idea if it was a good idea to bail out GM. Who the hell is going to buy a car from a bankrupt company that may or may not back up its warranties and with fewer dealerships to even choose from?On the other hand, if we lose all our car companies we will be a much poorer country for that loss. Millions (including those not directly involved in building cars) will lose their jobs, their health care and their pensions.To only blame government for all our ills and not the free marketeers is just delusional. Can\’t blame unions or the government for the fall of all those financial companies, mortgage lenders and banks.ENRON fell because of the corporate crooks not because of unions or the government. I certainly bash government when necessary, when warranted which is quite often.
>Hey, I'll take your worthless Federal Reserve Banknote money off your hands.I'm sure that you would. You liberals will \”TAKE\” anything! And, your typically big gooferment thugs will be more that happy to rob people of the wealth to satisfy the mob's demands. >Are all libertorians anti-union? What a silly question, of course they are.Of course not. Honest unions that seek to represent their members in fair negotiations with employers are just exercising people's rights of association. When they use the guns of gooferment to rob the bondholders of their proper settlement, then they are just as bad as the thugs they employ. (Before you say that the bondholders \”agreed\”, permit me to point out the 52% that did agree were big banks that were getting TARP money anyway. How could they not agree? And, they were being paid off anyway!)>Basically, libertarians are pro rich, pro management and anti-working class. If anything, little L libertarians are pro-working class. We want liberty and honest money. And, peace. Take a look at the casualties of war. It's the poor and working class.>shouldn't workers have the right to form unions?Sure they do. You don't see L's rooting for \”card check\”, minimum wages, or protectionisms.>Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist, works for the people and does not take corporate money. Please don't make me laugh! He's a socialist! Maybe even a Marxist. >Dennis Kucinich, not a socialist, is a feisty fighter for ordinary working Americans.Dittos. > I have no idea if it was a good idea to bail out GM. I do. It was a bad idea for either Bush or Obama to keep GM out of Chapter 11. And, all the money is wasted. It can't be saved. CAFE standards and all the assorted gooferment actions have made it impossible to make stuff in the US. It's like giving CPR to a mannequin.>Millions (including those not directly involved in building cars) will lose their jobs, their health >care and their pensions.Yes, there will be a lot of breakage. But the UAW voters, … ahh I mean, members will still have their gold plated pensions and health benefits. What happened to the Delta pilots shouldn't happen to a UAW voter. Sigh! GM was always known as a \”health insurance company that made cars\”. Argh!>To only blame government for all our ills and not the free marketeers is just delusional. It's the gooferment's use of force that is the root of most of the evils we are suffering through now. By the way, could you point out the \”free market\” that you are refering to? I can't see anything free since the 1860's. >Can't blame unions or the government for the fall of all those financial companiesSorry, but the seeds of the current collapse is rooted in the easy money of the FED and the Community Reinvestment Act. Barney and Chis, on the dole from AIG and other companies, made it easy for the sheeple to be defrauded.>ENRON fell because of the corporate crooks not because of unions or the government.ENRON resulted from the psuedo deregulation of the power industry. Their lobbyist used gooferment to do all sorts of \”rule making\”. In the end, it all collapsed. And the workers took it in the ear!>I certainly bash government when necessary, when warranted which is quite often.You fail to see the force of gooferment (i.e., the often not so silent gun in the room) is at the root of most problems. Our lives would be immeasurably improved it they'd just leave us alone.