And this just in.
------------------- Cadwalader, Rothschild Advising U.S. on Automaker Restructuring
By Tiffany Kary
Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- A law firm with bankruptcy expertise, three capital-markets lawyers and an investment bank are advising the U.S. government on how to restructure General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, two people involved in the work said.
The U.S. Treasury Department hired Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP to evaluate several restructuring scenarios, including a government-funded bankruptcy, the people said. Cadwalader, hired last month, is working with Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, a Chicago-based law firm with capital-markets experience, and Rothschild Inc., an investment bank, the people said.
A key question the Obama administration wants answered is whether the government?s $17.4 billion in loans to Chrysler and GM would be first in line for repayment, ahead of earlier lenders such as Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., the people said.
?They certainly need sound advice on the complicated area of bankruptcy and implications for the economy,? said Bruce Clark, an auto analyst at Moody?s Investors Services.
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If you are concerned write your Congressmen in addition to positing here. You can access their web mail here
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FWIW -- here is an email I just sent. Feel free to use all or any part of it.
------------------- This is a sad day for American manufacturing, but the choice is losing GM/Chrysler now or losing GM/Chrysler AND Ford 6 months from now.
Congress is now in the very unenviable position of having to choose between having GM and Chrysler go under on March 1, with a good possibility that Ford will survive and prosper, versus having all three companies collapse in 6 to 9 months, after "investing" tens of billions of additional taxpayer dollars.
Even after a one-month+ closure of their production facilities, Chrysler still has over 6 months of unsold new vehicle inventory at their factories and their dealers. While exact data is not available, GM is in much the same condition, as indicated by visual inspection of the local GM dealerships crammed with unsold vehicles, including many high value trucks, Hummers and SUVs. I encourage you to have one of your staffers take a day and drive past the area new car dealers, and report back.
The Obama administration appears to be engaging in some vital contingency planning by having at a preliminary evaluation of the GM/Chrysler bankruptcy option performed by experienced professionals, and I urge your support of these efforts.
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I caution that any attempted chapter 11 reorganization, will most likely involve considerable additional taxpayer funding, for example DIP [Debtor In Possession] financing. Such reorganization will be useless, as there is simply too much domestic production capacity available, the existing management/organizational culture at GM/Chrysler will not accept the required changes, AND CONTINUED TAXPAYER SUBSIDIZED VEHICLE PRODUCTION BY GM/CHRYSLER WILL SIMPLY DRIVE FORD OUT OF BUSINESS. Therefore immediate Chapter 7 liquidation of GM and Chrysler is the only viable option, if Ford is to have any chance of survival.
The taxpayer funds that would be wasted attempting to rejuvenate/regenerate GM/Chrysler will be far better spent on assistance for their displaced workers, and even more importantly on their suppliers, many of whom are involuntary GM/Chrysler creditors, as these also supply critical components to the other viable vehicle companies in the US.
Please discuss the critical need for immediate action to impose Chapter 7 liquidation on GM/Chrysler with your colleagues, ASAP after the submission of their "plans" on Feb 17. If it would be helpful, please feel free to forward this email.
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If you work in the Automotive industry, good luck.
Unka' George [George McDuffee]
------------------------------------------- He that will not apply new remedies, must expect new evils: for Time is the greatest innovator: and if Time, of course, alter things to the worse, and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better, what shall be the end?
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, essayist, statesman. Essays, "Of Innovations" (1597-1625).