New York Times — U.S. Plan Sees Easing of G.M. to Bankruptcy
As the Obama administration’s plans for GM become clear, competitors like Ford and Toyota are starting to have some concerns about how the new game of bankruptcy with benefits is being played.
What the White House seems to be arranging is a two-company solution in which the biggest problems (Hummer, pension debt, old plants) are quarantined in one group and viable resources (Cadillac, Chevy, new facilities) are put into the other.
The eventual, intentional taxpayer-cushioned failure of the sickest part of the company could deprive competitors of key suppliers even as GMs viable components begin to reassert themselves in the market.
Ford and Toyota had been expecting to face a successor that had to be destroyed and rebuilt – as U.S. law has dictated since colonial times and as was done with major bankruptcies like Eastern Airlines. But if the president means to use tax dollars to insulate the viable parts of GM from the systemic failure that plagues the company, as writers Michael de la Merced and Jonathan Glater suggest, good corporate citizens may suffer for their responsibility.
But that would require Obama – who will get to pick the bulk of the company’s new board of directors — having the political will to reward some GM workers while punishing others.
“There are critical differences between the airlines and G.M. There was no question of the demand for air travel in the United States, while critics of American automakers have questioned whether there is demand for their products and whether reducing costs will produce viable businesses.
The government’s plan to dictate terms as the provider of G.M.’s bankruptcy financing — known as a debtor-in-possession loan — is not without risk.
‘You’re introducing politics into the process,’ said David A. Skeel, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania.”
Washington Post — Broad U.S.-Russia Agreement in Works
Writers Michael Shear and Mary Jordan explain that the diplomatic centerpiece of President Obama’s trip abroad may be a broad agreement with Russia on nuclear weapons, the U.S. missile shield designed to contain Iran and other issues (perhaps including Afghanistan).
Secretary of State Hillary “Reset” Clinton and others have been plowing the ground to allow the U.S. to make concessions on the missile shield and other fronts in order to get the Russians to thaw their U.S. freeze out.
The upshot seems to be that the Russian get to keep arming Iran with missiles, we drop the missile shield, and everyone agrees that securing and destroying old nukes is important.
“The Russians have reached an understanding with Iran over the sale of surface-to-air missiles but said they have yet to deliver on shipments. Though the United States has pressed Russia to exert more pressure on Iran to abandon nuclear-weapons research, Moscow insists there is little more it can do, saying its nuclear dialogue with Tehran is based solely on energy production.”
Wall Street Journal — World Leaders Lay Out Tests for Obama
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123854671487576275.html
Aside from having a global financial downturn to deal with, this week’s meeting of the heads of the 20 most economically potent powers is newsier than most because of Barack Obama.
Writers Jonathan Weisman and Jay Solomon explain that as Obama prepared for one-on-one meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Obama was cramming for his first big diplomacy test.
The rest of the world is looking to take the measure of America’s new commander in chief.
“Obama aides describe a president animated in recent days by arcane corners of diplomacy, such as restarting strategic arms-control-reduction talks, rather than agreements on international banking regulations and tax-haven sanctions — likely the big takeaways from the G-20 summit.”
Albany Times-Union — Tedisco, Murphy in dead heat
It’s elections that make politics so great, and while gasbag commentators and anxious political writers looking to justify a week spent in the Mid-Hudson Valley were pre-spinning and expectation gaming the election to replace Kristen Gillibrand in Congress, voters were evenly divided.
The talk that emerges today will be that the race shows a divided, uncertain nation. The truth is that in a swing district two flawed candidates, millions of dollars and the president of the United States created a political traffic jam.
A decision will be rendered by the state board of elections on April 13.
“As of Monday, 5,907 absentee ballots were received by the state Board of Elections out of around 10,000 mailed, according to spokesman Bob Brehm. Absentee ballots must be postmarked by March 30 and received within seven days for regular absentee ballots or 13 days for military and overseas ballots.”
Politico — Court leaves Coleman with little hope
The folks in Al Franken’s camp are getting ready to make their triumphal entry into Washington after a panel of special election judges decided to include hundreds of disputed ballots that will add to the alleged comedian’s 225-vote victory margin from November.
If Harry Reid tries to seat Franken before the legal battle concludes, though, it would make Roland Burris’ arrival look tame.
Norm Coleman may be all but out, but donors are still happy to fund appeals that keep the 59th Democratic senator in Minneapolis. Plus, the judges may throw Coleman a bone in their final ruling.
“The court did not rule on Coleman’s argument that the different methods Minnesota counties use for counting absentee ballots violated the Constitution’s equal protection clause or on 132 ballots deemed missing from the Minneapolis area. It’s unclear whether the court will address those issues before it makes a final ruling.”
