Barrett Sheridan
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May 1, 2009 08:38 AM
Another One Bites the Dust: The federal government put Chrysler into bankruptcy protection yesterday, and the New York Times argues that "if the process is prolonged, the costs and complexity would likely
ensure that the company would never emerge from bankruptcy proceedings." Obama blamed "a small group of speculators" who "were hoping that everybody else would make sacrifices and they
would have to make none,” he said. (John Gapper defends the hedge funds and "speculators" here.) The new, post-bankruptcy Chrysler will be linked with Fiat and majority-owned by the workers' union and their pension plan. (If that sounds odd, that's because it is.)
Mon Dieu: What's a French citizen to do when an economic crisis strikes? Protest it! Hundreds of May Day marches are planned, and turnout is expected to be high.
Dept. of Unintended Consequences: Some 13 countries worldwide have guaranteed about $400 billion in financial company bonds in order to prop up their banking sectors. This has made borrowing extraordinarily costly for the World Bank, which lacks such guarantees but is a AAA-rated borrower.
A More Sober "Woodstock for Capitalists": Warren Buffett gathers with his acolytes in Omaha this weekend, and is sure to face tough questions after Berkshire Hathaway reported its worst annual earnings ever.
Who's Who of Financial Bloggers: If the financial blogosphere were high school (and sometimes it kind of feels that way), where would you sit?
