Today's Papers: GM Bankruptcy: An American Revolution

This is it. After months of speculation, General Motors will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy early this morning. The iconic automaker that was once seen as synonymous with American capitalism, and only 10 years ago was the world's largest company, will be nationalized. The United States will invest $30.1 billion in the company, on top of the $20 billion it has already spent on propping up the automaker. The Los Angeles Times points out that GM will now be "the second-largest recipient of bailout money, behind insurance giant American International Group." USA Today notes that, unlike Chrysler, GM will not announce a companywide plant shutdown. Under the current restructuring plan, the U.S. government would get around 60 percent of the new GM, the governments of Canada and Ontario would get 12 percent, 17.5 percent would go to a union retiree health trust, while bondholders would get 10 percent. The Washington Post devotes much of its piece to once again looking at how the government will have to deal with claims that its restructuring plan favors the United Auto Workers at the expense of regular investors. "The fairness issue will be central as the GM bankruptcy case goes before a judge this week," notes the Post. The New York Times points out that the restructuring plan "places the government in uncharted territory as a business owner" while the Wall Street Journal says that it sets up "a high-stakes gamble for U.S. taxpayers." Administration officials insist they don't plan on putting any more money into the company even while recognizing that there are still unknowns, such as when the car market is going to stage a comeback, that could change the equation. In his speech today, President Obama is expected to argue that the government had no choice but to get involved, because a GM liquidation would have reverberated across the wider economy and sent the unemployment rate soaring. At the same time, he will insist that the government doesn't want to get involved in the automaker's day-to-day operations. To continue reading, click here.