Just this week it was reported in the Wall Street Journal that the U.S. Treasury Department is preparing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing for Chrysler. Along these lines, General Motors noted that it won’t be able to make a debt payment of $1 billion that is due June 1st. Also, in an attempt to save itself, GM is shutting down 13 assembly plants for up to 11 weeks this summer. The Treasury Department would not say what role, if any, the administration played in GM’s decision to shutter the plants. On a more positive note, Ford Motor Co. reported a loss for the past quarter, but it was better than expected and the company also reported that it is burning
through far less cash than in did in the fourth quarter of last year.
In December of last year, Bank of America realized that Merrill Lynch was incurring much greater losses or as BOA’s CEO described as “staggering amounts of deterioration” than it had anticipated. Upon learning this, Bank of America attempted to exit the merger. However, the government threatened to oust Bank of America’s Chief Executive Ken Lewis and other executive managers if the bank didn’t go through with its acquisition of struggling brokerage firm Merrill Lynch, according to the results of an investigation by New York Attorney GeneralAndrew Cuomo released Thursday.
