Wall Street Folly

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Getting out while the gettin's still good: GM execs bailing on their stock ($GM)

With prospect of the inevitable bankruptcy filing looming closer and closer, six GM executives threw in the towel on the company's stock.

Another must read from the Chrysler bankruptcy filings - The Non-Tarp Lenders' request to have their identities filed under seal as a result of death threats resulting from the Obama regime's "propaganda"

More talk about the heavy handedness of the Obama regime, as well as how the "propaganda" has led to death threats to members of the Non-Tarp Lenders.....

Here are some excerpts as well as the full filing:

Amid death threats, Chrysler NonTARP lenders move to block the restructuring

Chrysler's nonTARP lenders have made their move to block the Obama administration's restructuring that did an end run around their senior position in the capital structure.  A bankruptcy judge will hear the case on Tuesday.  And reminiscent of AIG, some of the creditors have apparently received death threats according to their lawyer Tom Lauria.  According to the Financial Times:

Chrysler Voluntary Bankruptcy Petition Filing - 4/30/09

Chrysler Chapter 11 Press Release

It's done: Chrysler filed Chapter 11 in the Southern District of NY

Per Bloomberg:

....Dissident creditors intend to object to the company’s reorganization plan, a person familiar with their thinking said. That might thwart President Barack Obama’s goal of a “surgical” bankruptcy that would put a viable carmaker quickly into the market.

The case will be heard by Arthur Gonzalez in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.

Fingered by the Obama administration as responsible for taking down Chrysler, the non-TARP lenders fight back with their own statement

The nerve of those nasty hedge funds that hold first lien secured Chrysler paper who won't roll over and accede to the will of the Obama administration.  Because they wouldn't roll over and allow themselves to be totally screwed in favor of more junior creditors (like the UAW to which Obama is politically beholding), they're being painted as the sole reason for the failure to cobble together an out of bankruptcy restructuring.  We cry bullshit on the Obama administration (as well as their continual deluded statements that any bankruptcy will be "quick" or "surgical" or "quick rinse". Good luck with that).  Following is a statement from an unnamed Obama administration official cited by the Wall Street Journal, and below that is the response of the hedge funds (aka, the Non-Tarp Lenders).

Earlier Thursday an administration official said the restructuring of Chrysler LLC will go forward even though a handful of hedge funds have refused to accept the Treasury Department's offer to cut the auto maker's debt.

"Their failure to act in either their own economic interest or the national interest does not diminish the accomplishments" by Chrysler, its planned alliance partner Fiat SpA and other stakeholders in the company, the official said, "nor will it impede the new opportunity Chrysler now has to restructure and emerge stronger going forward."

Distressed debt focus: CNBC interviews Avenue Capital's Marc Lasry (4/17/09) ($F,$GM,$C)

He says opportunities abound in distressed debt, especially in the debt of casinos...

We agree: No quickie bankruptcy for GM ($GM)

A New York Times article lays out reasons why a GM bankruptcy won't be a quick in and out.  We can't agree more....