Comments on: Monday bailout bridge-loan snippets

By: ctm

ctm — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:50:52 +0000

According to Swedish media now: Ford just announced that they are looking into what to do with Volvo Cars, evaluation different options. First time they said that openly. Saab next…?

By: JV

JV — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:07:31 +0000

He seems to be exactly as incompetent as the managers of GM USA. Congrats GM; you still make the worst cars ever existed and one day you have to suffer from it. GM is not worth a penny in goverment support. GM should be shut down and the assets should be sold to manufaturers that knows how to make cars. My wish is that they sell GME to a company with managers that are at least not retarded. End of story!

By: Ken H

Ken H — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:38:49 +0000

Will the CEOs arrive in corporate jets, I wonder?

By: Vance Shaw

Vance Shaw — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:10:26 +0000

Any comparison between the financial bailout and the auto bailout is misguided. Finance has been a directly regulated biz for over 70 yrs in the USA. You can argue its been mis-regulated or under/over regulated.. but you can’t argue that “Adam Smith” rules should apply. Those died circa 1933. Through deposit insurance and other New Deal mechanisms we are ALL truly on-the-hook whether we want to be or not.

Citibank going under would result in over $1 trillion in deposits losing substantial value. Its very possible that currently solvent non-USA govts and major banks would become insolvent as a result. So Citi going under is GM * 1000…. AND BTW if Citi went under all 3 (GM, F, C) would go under within hours. There would be no chance of any size DIP or re-org financing post Citi going under and all financing of any kind would stop for them. TARP would also then have to be 2x or 3x bigger…

There’s no doubt that dumb/bad/nefarious govt regulation has hurt the US auto industry over the years. But IMO it’s been secondary to bad mgmt and bad union decisions. There is no automotive ministry in the USA govt charged with regulating industry activities.

BOTTOM LINE : Financial industry with all its pluses and minuses is a creation of US govt policies. US auto industry is a creation of post-war USA (Midwestern variety) corporatism. Unfort for all of us both are found very wanting at the moment.

By: Markac

Markac — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:08:29 +0000

I’m sure any bailout package (sorry ‘bridging loan’) would be solely targeted at GM Noth America. I doubt if Congress would be too happy if any of it filtered throught to GM Europe including Saab. Keeping GM NA running and protecting jobs in the US would be of prime consideration.

Maybe Volvo AB (trucks) would consider being part of a consortium (to buy Volvo Cars) which included a small stake held by the Swedish government?

I think a consortium of Investor AB, the Swedish Government and another company (prefereably a car manufacturer) would be a good interim step for Saab if GM decide to let it go. Perhaps even GM could retain (something like) a 25% stake and continue to be an OEM parts supplier to Saab.