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Tom Francis - SWSports

On Sat, 15 Nov 2008 09:19:58 -0600, wrote:

On Sat, 15 Nov 2008 14:00:46 +0000, Tom Francis - SWSports wrote:

My own feeling is that let 'em go. Do the pre-pack, restructure to a
smaller, leaner, less expensive operation, drop a number of lines that
make no sense (like Hummer) and start competing again as a more
efficient and cost effective company.

GM deserves to go down, but ... We are now spending $1 trillion to put
liquidity *and* confidence back in our markets. What does letting GM go
down do to that confidence? I don't see a choice. I don't like it, but
I think we have to do something to help GM.

There is a difference between financial issues and manufacturing
issues.

You have to have confidence in the base medium of exchange - it's the
idea that the $1 bill is worth $1, not that is actually is worth $1.
It could be clams, round stones with holes in them or slices of
pepperoni - the concept is that the medium of exchange has a certain
value and that is what makes an economy.

If don't have confidence in the medium, the system fails.

Manufacturing is a completely different deal. As long as $1 stays a
$1, companies can start, compete, succeed, fail - the medium of
exchange stays the same.