The PDFs of the plans that GM and Chrysler submitted to Treasury are now available.
http://www.treasury.gov/press/releases/tg31.htmNow would be a very good time for progressives to start pressuring lawmakers to force both companies to identify the banks who underwrote all that debt.
A corporate bond is debt. Which banks (hint, hint: TARP recipients) are being asked to adjust loan (bond) terms for automakers' losing strategies, while ignoring consumers' requests for similar adjustments to their much smaller loans (e.g., mortgages and credit cards)?
If the right progressive groups pressure Democratic lawmakers to insist that GM and Chrysler disclose their bondholders, my (educated) guess is that some big TARP recipients' names are going to show up.
This, in turn, would give progressive lawmakers on the Hill additional ammunition with which to fight for consumer debt adjustments (e.g., mortgage terms rewritten, credit card forbearances, etc.).
Or, put more simply: if consumers cannot get enough relief from their own crushing debt, who exactly is going to be able to buy all these new whiz-bang, high-mileage, low-emissions cars that GM and Chrysler suddenly found in their R&D departments?
When companies like GM and Chrysler state that they're working with (unnamed) creditor committees, it stands to reason that the names of the creditors are known.