General Motors prepares to Declare Bankruptcy

[andy003]

After the declaration of U.S. government that General Motors Corp. will file for insolvency today, the Yen climbed up for a 2nd day against the Dollar and the Euro, impelling demand for Yen as a protection from the financial crisis.

The Yen became sophisticated versus 13 of the 16 most-traded currencies after the U.S. government said GM is planning to close 11 factories, accumulating to signs the U.S. recession is far from over. The Euro fell against the Pound on alarm that European Central Bank policy makers will signal this week they plan further steps to keep down borrowing costs, wetting the request of the 16-nation currency. After a Chinese report that shows manufacturing expansion led to the increase of Taiwan Dollar the most in a month.

[JEAN]

After Obama the GM CEO F. Henderson will give a news conference detailing the steps the company will take while it's under bankruptcy laws and under judicial supervision.

Henderson will also announce the closing of 11 factories in the US, while three others will see their production temporarily suspended, as part of the reorganization plan, which will eliminate 21000 jobs.

[Pinalli]

So General Motors is going bankrupt after the US took a 70% stake in the company, China is concerned about the amount of money that the US is spending on its debt, North Korea is distracting the global financial community with its nuclear ambitions and the Eurozone economy is slowly creeping downward after all is said and done. What now? Well, a report in yesterdays Wall Street Journal reported that the US Treasury and Federal Reserve is puzzled over the spike in rates on the open market of their debt instruments.

I ask very cautiously, what is so hard to understand? The dilemma that they have is figuring out if the spike means there is less of a need for the quantitative easing that the US has made a policy of due to increased demand (with demand comes higher rates) or whether the market is spooked by the mounting debt the US is incurring during this downturn. I have a simple answer, and I am by no means an accredited economist. The latter is the correct answer and it is obvious.