GM Bankruptcy: An American Revolution

06-01-2009

This is it. After months of speculation, General Motors will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy early this morning. The iconic automaker, which was once seen as synonymous with American capitalism and only 10 years ago was the world's largest company, will be nationalized. The United States will invest $30.1 billion in the company, on top of the $20 billion it has already spent on propping up the automaker. The Los Angeles Times points out that GM will now be "the second-largest recipient of bailout money, behind insurance giant American International Group." USA Today notes that GM, unlike Chrysler, will not announce a companywide plant shutdown. Under the current restructuring plan, the U.S. government would get about 60 percent of the new GM, the governments of Canada and Ontario would get 12 percent, 17.5 percent would go to a union retiree-health trust, and bondholders would get 10 percent. The Washington Post devotes much of its piece to looking, once again, at how the