The least surprising business news of the day

More

Take it away, WSJ:

General Motors Corp., nearing a federally imposed deadline to present a restructuring plan, will offer the government two costly alternatives: commit billions more in bailout money to fund the company's operations, or provide financial backing as part of a bankruptcy filing, said people familiar with GM's thinking.

(Hat tip to Business Insider.)

As co-contributor Jim Manzi pointed out at the time, GM barely pretended to have a viable business plan in connection with the initial bailout talks late last year.  And those who remain convinced that GM has already taken the steps it needs to return to viability (such as Jonathan Cohn) should read this Fortune piece by Alex Taylor, who has covered the auto industry for over 30 years and, by his own admission, fallen for GM's promises of turnaround far too often over that span.



As with many aspects of the election season, the best summary of GM's business plan was presented by SNL. For some reason, it has not been posted on Hulu, but the crack staff of the Atlantic has spared no expense (in the form of Google searches) to bring you this example of cutting-edge business journalism.  (The key excerpt is from about 2:15-3:20.)

<embed src="http://v.wordpress.com/LbA1OFar" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="300" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed>

Jump to comments

Dr. Manhattan

Dr. Manhattan is the pseudonym of a lawyer in New York City who represents, among others, clients in the investment management industry. He started blogging in early 2002, when the entire NYC-based blogosphere could gather in one room (which they often did). In between his frequent retirements, he blogged about politics, baseball, Israel and autism (especially vaccine-related matters) at blissfulknowledge.com. With the regulatory system up for grabs, for this project he has decided to try the novel approach of blogging about matters which bear some relationship to the topics that come up in his day job (within the strict limits of professional obligations, of course). In case anyone was wondering, none of his opinions expressed on this blog are necessarily those of his clients, employer or colleagues.
Get Today's Top Stories in Your Inbox (preview)


Elsewhere on the web

Join the Discussion

After you comment, click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be asked to log in or register. blog comments powered by Disqus

Video

Miami: The Next Big Start-Up City?

How the city became a center for innovation

Video

Video

A Brief History of Romantic Comedies

From The Atlantic's Chris Orr

Video

Life in 'the New Arctic'

A moving portrait of a fading landscape

Video

Video

The Rise of New York City

A fascinating look at Manhattan in the 1940s

Video

What Is Methane Hydrate?

"Flaming ice" is a vast natural energy source

Video

NASA's Time-Lapse of the Sun

Now with epic dubstep music

Video

Shaken Not Tuned: Cocktail Experiments

Can a tuning fork improve a cocktail?

Video

Video

Is He Cheating? A 1950s Guide

'That little blonde secretary from the office?’

Video

New Yorkers: Vintage Vacuum-Tube Amps

Risking electric shock to restore old amplifiers

Video

The DIY Piano-Bicycle

Everybody needs a hobby

Video

What Does It Take to Make Real Craft Gin?

Tour the Green Hat Gin distillery

Video

Letter From the Editor

The June 2013 issue

Video

What Straights Can Learn From Same-Sex Couples

New insight from decades of research

Video

The End of the Mall Rat

A tribute to that pillar of teen culture

Writers

Up
Down

More in Business

In Focus

Finland in World War II