Reports: Bush Considering “Orderly” Auto Bankruptcy
According to some reports, President George W. Bush is considering managing an “orderly” bankruptcy of U.S. automakers.
White House press secretary Dana Perino told reporters Thursday that “we’re going to do something.” She added that the White House wants to prevent a “disorderly collapse” which could, Bush and his team of senior economic advisers believe, do tremendous damage to state, possibly the national economy.
Managing an “orderly” bankruptcy is reasonably complicated; Bush will need union leaders, workers, employers and share holders to fall in line for it to succeed. If they, or one or more groups, rebel the bankruptcy will play out distinctly chaotically.
If true, it signals quite a break with other reports in recent days in which Bush was said to consider bailing out the industry for the umptiest time in the last three decades. Aiming for an “orderly bankruptcy” would be acceptable to the conservative base for even the most ardent free market conservatives often sympathize with policies that would limit the profound impact of changes in the market, without attempting to prevent those changes themselves. In other words, if the auto industry goes bankrupt, as it has to, it is perfectly alright to let it happen in a way that does as little damage as possible to state economies and the national economy as a whole.
This website uses IntenseDebate comments, but they are not currently loaded because either your browser doesn't support JavaScript, or they didn't load fast enough.
Comments are closed.
PoliGazette Comments Policy
PoliGazette encourages comments from all viewpoints, especially those that disagree.
Comments submitted must, however, adhere to the following standards. Comments that violate
these standards may be edited or deleted without notice at the sole discretion of the editors.
Commenters who repeatedly or egregiously violate these standards or who attempt to argue
publicly with editors regarding the comments policy may be banned from commenting further.
(1) Comments should address the substantive content of the post. Comments that repeatedly
or blatantly misrepresent the content of the post or of others' comments are not welcome. Comments that
respond to something other than which the contributor or commenter may have said are irrelevant and should
not be posted.
(2) Comments should avoid vulgarity as well as racial, ethnic, religious, or sexual bigotry.
(3) Comments should not personally attack the character, personal integrity, or professional
reputation of any PoliGazette contributor or of other commenters.
(4) Comments should reflect the contributions of the commenters themselves and should not
include extensive cut-and-paste reproductions of others' words except insofar as necessary to supplement
the commenter's own arguments. Link spam, trackback spam, and propaganda spam will be instantly deleted.
(5) Public figures are considered open to all substantive criticism of their policies and statements.
Comments that present objectively false factual information about public figures (i.e. "Obama is a Muslim") or
that attack public figures by attacking their families are not welcome. Comments that merely repeat
slogans for or against a candidate without engaging in substantive comment are not welcome.
Questions or challenges to these policies or their application should be directed to the editors
by email only.
And a “disorderly” bankruptcy would be?
One where all the claims from creditors are not allocated and prioritized in advance.
Oh…so who’s going to rank the creditors, the Car Czar? (or “Autocrat” if you prefer)
In a structured or “packaged” bankruptcy, the ranking of creditors and determinations of debt restructuring are done through a negotiated process that would, in this case, include the so-called “car czar”, but certainly not in an autocratic role.