GOP WELL ON THE WAY TO DESTROYING U.S. AUTO INDUSTRY
This is the best that we can do, institutionally? Find a greek hero guy?
“I expect that the terms would be similar to the ones that were in the House bill,” Levin said. “The power rests in the hands of either the czar or the Secretary of the Treasury to force bankruptcy by March 31.”
If GM isn't profitable at the end of the recession and cannot pay back its loans, then the GOP can pull the plug.
Meanwhile, setting up a hero to save the day is a no-solution solution.
The Dems ought to change their proposal, to put pressure on the Administration. Among the ideas,
- a scaled-back bill designed to tide things over until there is a new Congress.
- a scaled up bill that requires that Paulson buy GM's current debt at 20-cents on the dollar, say, in order to facilitate a tri-partite negotiation between management, labor and bonded creditors
- a timeframe for a national healthcare proposal that takes the VEBA stuff off the critical path
- an excise tax on cars produced in non-union states, in order to create a level playing field inside the U.S.
- a timeframe for non U.S. producers to create greater than 80% of their U.S. sales inside the United States territorial borders.
Meanwhile, all the uncertainty that the GOP has thrown up with it's Gingrich-like showmanship and 'principles' is no doubt seriously denting all the American brands.
If the GOP continues, even another week, consumers will assume that the companies are forfeit, guaranteeing the outcome that Senators Shelby and Corker are quite willing to risk in pursuit of their self-important nonsense.
