The big question now is how General Motors will emerge out of this bankruptcy? And what lies ahead for what was once the world's biggest car manufacturer?
As Dennis Berman at The Wall Street Journal points out, the $65 billion in taxpayers' money is all part of the subterfuge. Instead of being handed over as a loan, it's money converted into an illiquid 60% stake in the car maker. And this is where the problem starts because if GM is profitable again, and that's a big if, US taxpayers won't get their money back.
So what direction should GM take? Joel Makower from Greenbiz.com has a piece saying that the future of GM is green. "Before the economy tanked last fall, GM seemed to be 'getting it', shifting its focus toward vehicle electrification and renewable fuels for the vehicles on its drawing boards," Makower writes. "Its R&D leaders were pondering a world in which there could someday be 2 billion vehicles, roughly twice as many as today, and what that might mean for safety, road congestion, and the environment. They were designing prototypes of small neighborhood electric vehicles. And they were thinking about the second and third generations of the Volt technology that will follow in 2011 and beyond. "
Maybe, but this bankruptcy and the company's battle to come through might take it in a completely different direction. Still, it's hard to ignore film-maker Michael Moore's vision of what could be done. Moore argues the money would be better spent building bullet trains running across the country, as they do in Japan, using GM factories to build mass light rail lines and energy efficient buses as well as windmills and solar panels. He also wants tax incentives to encourage more people to buy hybrid cars.
It's unlikely the government will listen to Moore and Makower. But the GM crisis could be a real opportunity. And no crisis should be wasted.
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