GM Considering Bankruptcy

by: rich

Sat Feb 14, 2009 at 14:43:15 PM EST

More good news for Michigan and the country.

General Motors Corp, nearing a Tuesday deadline to present a viability plan to the U.S. government, is considering as one option a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing that would create a new company, the Wall Street Journal said in its Saturday edition.

The article from the WSJ is subscription only. Anyone who's got one want to fill in the details? Or anyone who works for GM care to comment?

It looks like the government loans, the buyouts to over 60,000 employees, and the announced layoffs of 10,000 salaried workers won't be enough to stave off bankruptcy for GM.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Bush slowly murdering the auto industry.

by: dkmich

Fri Dec 19, 2008 at 07:00:55 AM EST

White House considering "orderly" bankruptcy to deal with ailing automakers Jennifer Loven, AP White House Correspondent, Thursday December 18, 2008, WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration is seriously considering "orderly" bankruptcy as a way of dealing with the desperately ailing U.S. auto industry. -- snip -- Bush said the auto industry is "obviously very fragile" and he is worried about what an out-and-out collapse without Washington involvement "would do to the psychology" of the markets. "There still is a lot of uncertainty," he said.

Chrysler shutting down all 30 sites for 1 month

by: lapojoynt

Wed Dec 17, 2008 at 17:36:19 PM EST

John AND Debbie Dingell beaten in 2-day period. Wow

by: David Boyle

Sat Dec 01, 2007 at 21:00:14 PM EST

    After these Dingell dual disasters, Michigan can hopefully be persuaded to get new leadership faster (in the 15th District Congressperson position and the Michigan DNC Committeeperson position), shed the corruption, and get out of its mess faster. Sail on!!

Nancy + Arnie terminate Dingell's preemption perversity

by: David Boyle

Fri Nov 30, 2007 at 23:53:03 PM EST

    ...The package nearly fell apart this week when Mr. Dingell insisted on leaving sole authority to regulate automobile mileage standards with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an arm of the Transportation Department. That would have weakened the power of the Environmental Protection Agency and the states, led by California, to regulate auto emissions of carbon dioxide, which are in large measure a function of the amount of fuel burned.
    Federal court rulings this year have decided this so-called pre-emption issue in favor of the E.P.A. and the states, decisions that Mr. Dingell hoped to undo by Congressional action. ...
    The authority of the E.P.A. to regulate tailpipe emissions and the right of California and other states to set their own, higher standards were considered deal-breakers by Ms. Pelosi and her fellow California Democrat, Senator Dianne Feinstein. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican governor of California, weighed in late in the week to tell negotiators that he would oppose the bill if the [sic] Mr. Dingell's preemption language stayed in.
    Mrs. Pelosi and Democratic leaders in the Senate rejected Mr. Dingell's preemption effort, but softened the blow by agreeing to allow the car companies to retain a credit for vehicles capable of running on a blend of gasoline and ethanol. That credit was set to expire in 2008 but now will begin to decline in 2014 and be eliminated entirely by 2020. ...

    (For some background, see ye previous workes of mine hand, 9th Circuit slaps Detroyota on truck CAFE standards and Pelosi preps Dingell for retirement, sidelines him on CAFE standards.)

    Fine work Nancy! I guess you found some use for crazy Arnie after all...

9th Circuit slaps Detroyota on truck CAFE standards

by: David Boyle

Mon Nov 19, 2007 at 15:42:46 PM EST

  The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals...has ruled in favor of California's lawsuit against federal mileage standards (California v. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 06-72317). The court issued a 90-page opinion that strikes down recently-implemented CAFE standards for light-duty trucks (a category that includes SUVs and minivans) on several grounds, including the failure to take global warming into account. ...
  Commenting on the decision Attorney General [Jerry] Brown [of California] said, "This decision sends a clear message that the Congress must get serious about combating dangerous foreign oil dependency and global warming. This is a major victory and a stunning rebuke to the Bush administration and its failed energy policies." ...
  Brown's press release also links today's news to the ongoing national debate over CAFE standards, highlighting a letter that he wrote last week to congressional leaders asking them to ensure that sorely-needed fuel economy improvements do not preempt California's emissions standards (as some have attempted in the recent past). That letter was signed by 16 other states, and was directed at the proposed Hill-Terry amendment to the energy bill, which allows for a more moderate increase in efficiency and would expressly preempt state efforts.
  Hill-Terry, by the way, is being supported by an expensive lobbying campaign bankrolled by the Alliance for Automobile Manufacturers (spotlighted by the National Resources Defense Council's ongoing "How Green Is Toyota?" campaign), which also filed an amicus brief on behalf of NHTSA in this case and is fighting to preempt California's standards in federal district courts.

  So, a congressman I shan't name fully, call him Ding-ll, is rolling in the hay with

1) George W. Bush,

2) Toyota,

and of course

3) a bunch of domestic polluter corporations in his congressional district.

  ...Who is available to primary him again? Feel free to suggest.....

The View From the Eye of the Storm

by: leftfielder

Thu Aug 09, 2007 at 23:21:13 PM EDT

From the day you walk in you are told “save your money, you’ll be laid off before long.” While I never disputed the wisdom of saving money it takes a while to get used to being on pins and needles during times of “slow sales”, model eliminations or the always menacing contract year. An autoworker has a strangely unique set of worries. Sometimes it feels as if you are in the eye of a storm, you can see the storm around you and all you can do is wait to be swept up in it. I have no inside information on the actual contract talks themselves but I can give a voice to the frustrations, fears and hopes that many autoworkers go through nearly year-round for their entire career at GM especially at contract time.

Being a 3^rd generation GM employee has prepared me for the mindset that any day I could walk into work and be told that I am being laid off. I have had our product outsourced to another country, had the company decide to do away with an entire name plate, and had no work due to strike. Recently we have even had the corporation decide to eliminate an entire shift and then within a month decide to put it back on after workers had already been moved to different departments, shifts and even plants. Needless to say anyone who has tried to get daycare arranged knows how long that can take, especially if you get moved to the night shift on 5 days notice. The day after I signed the papers for my first house I was laid off! Most auto workers will tell you that having these things in the back of your mind constantly takes a great toll. I count my blessings for the UAW who at every point of my life has provided for me; from infancy to adulthood and hopefully into old-age. Many would contend that this round of negotiations is about exactly that.

Rep. Dingell, Please Get Out of the Way

by: willy mugobeer

Mon Jun 18, 2007 at 17:54:00 PM EDT

"...Democrats must put the needs of families above the interest of corporations in order for the party to win the 2008 presidential election."

Is anyone else gobsmacked by this irony?  Her husband John is currently carrying massive amounts of water for some of America's biggest corporations (the Big Three) on one of the most important issues facing America these days (fuel economy standards, which are linked to consumers' pocketbooks, global warming, air pollution and national security.)

But you know, Representative Dingell's behavior can be better understood if we consider the following...

Dingell enrages Daily Kos (UPDATED: front-page noted at DKos)

by: David Boyle

Tue Jun 05, 2007 at 13:02:48 PM EDT

  "John Dingell (D-Michigan) and Rick Boucher (D-Virginia) are divisive, obtuse, arrogant scumbags, pure and simple.
  These two men are the prime movers behind a bill in the House Energy and Commerce committee, of which Dingell is the chairman and Boucher a subcommittee head.
  Get this: The San Francisco Chronicle breaks the story and the draft legislation can be read here, supposedly and here.

Why is it always your friends who screw you over the hardest?  (I don't know, David, but I have a feeling you've got more below the fold. -- E.B.)