The Road To Car Tomb, Part 2

More details about GM and Chrysler are out today, and they aren't good news at all. Bottom line: both companies failed Obama's test fantastically and are now paying the price.

GM will get 60 days and Chrysler 30 days in which to make a final push toward proving they can run viable businesses. If Chrysler succeeds, it will receive a $6 billion loan. In GM's case, the officials would not specify how much money the carmaker might receive.

In the case of both companies, the officials said, stakeholders - and particularly debt holders in both companies - had not done enough to relieve the automakers of ongoing financial burdens.

"We have made very clear that we expect a very, very substantial reduction in liability for both companies," one official said.

The administration also said a structured bankruptcy is possible.

"While Chrysler and GM are different companies with different paths forward, both have unsustainable liabilities and both need a fresh start," according to an administration document. "Their best chance at success may well require utilizing the bankruptcy code in a quick and surgical way."

In order to help assuage consumer fears about buying cars from these companies as they restructure, the government is also setting aside funds to back up warranties on vehicles GM and Chrysler sell.

So Chrysler has until April 30 and GM May 30 to turn it around, or the Big 3 is the Big One: Ford. Oh yes, this is a disaster of a mess of a screw-up...but it's yet another mess Obama inherited from Bush. Let's not forget this. An orderly bankruptcy six months ago would have solved the problem. Now? Bush punted because he didn't want to be the President that had to make the tough calls on automakers.

How long will it take I wonder before the wingnuts call for Obama to completely dissolve the UAW in order to save these companies? They're already comparing him to Hugo Chavez. How quickly the wingers forget Saint Ronnie fired 11,000 air traffic controllers and Reagan and the Bushes spent 20 years busting unions afterwards, but American workers are supposed to feel fear and dread at this "unprecedented" interference in the workplace for canning a CEO.

You get bailout money, you get rules.