Wow. GM and Chrysler have been sent back to the drawing boards to come up with better
plans if they want more bailout money. The text of President Obama’s statement about
the government’s decision to offer a limited bailout for the GM and Chrysler includes the
following (of course, he may say something different):
— I am announcing that my administration will offer GM and Chrysler a limited period of
time to work with creditors, unions, and other stakeholders to fundamentally restructure in
a way that would justify an investment of additional tax dollars …
— My administration will offer General Motors adequate working capital over the next 60
days. Let me be clear: the United States government has no interest or intention of
running GM.
— We have determined … that Chrysler needs a partner to remain viable … Fiat is
prepared to transfer its cutting-edge technology to Chrysler and …has committed to
building new fuel-efficient cars and engines here in America.
There’s a lot more to the program than I can capture here and I’m sure we’ll hear a lot
about it on the news for days to come. The auto industry is arguable the largest PLM
customer set today, and the loss of two major players would hurt the major vendors. As it
stands, it sounds grim …
