[sgarnett]

The Senate, UAW, et al, just gave up (ie failed) on reaching a compromise a few minutes ago.

I don't know how GM will come out after bankruptcy (they just hired the bankruptcy lawyer), but the stock market futures are looking ugly tonight. It actually held up well through some dismal recent employment numbers, but I suspect tomorrow is gonna be ugly. Rebuilding my retirement is going to mean austerity and no new cars for a very long time, and I suspect that will be true for many others. That can't be good for any automaker.

I'll admit I wasn't convinced that bridge loans to March could solve the problems for GM, so I don't claim to know what the right answer was. Nevertheless, this is going to be a big kick in the teeth for the economy.

This post has been edited by sgarnett: Dec 12 2008, 04:07 AM

[robz71lm7]

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn41...s_/ai_n19342425

I'll say one thing we only have a couple Toyota dealers in the area, both of which are astounding in size. GM dealers? Too many to count and most are pretty small. It will also cost GM a pretty penny, depending upon state franchising laws, to close some of the smaller dealers.

Also see the 3rd paragraph of this:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122688631448632421.html

It's like mom and pop competing against Wal-mart.