General Motors, with dire warnings, is seeking a bailout, but skeptics point to the benefits of bankruptcy, which can offer a new start.

Micheline Maynard, New York Times

Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Thomas Sklarski

Momentum is building in Washington for a rescue package for the auto industry to head off a possible bankruptcy filing by General Motors, which is rapidly running low on cash.

But not everyone agrees that a Chapter 11 filing by G.M. would be the disaster that many fear. Some experts note that while bankruptcy would be painful, it may be preferable to a government bailout that may only delay, at considerable cost, the wrenching but necessary steps G.M. needs to take to become a stronger, leaner company.

Although G.M.’s labor contracts would be at risk of termination in a bankruptcy, setting up a potential confrontation with its unions, the company says its pension obligations are largely financed for its 479,000 retirees and their spouses.

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The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.

Mark Pittman, Bob Ivry, and Alison Fitzgerald, Bloomberg

The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return.

``The collateral is not being adequately disclosed, and that's a big problem,'' said Dan Fuss, vice chairman of Boston- based Loomis Sayles & Co., where he co-manages $17 billion in bonds. ``In a liquid market, this wouldn't matter, but we're not. The market is very nervous and very thin.''

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The economic downturn is putting the squeeze on philanthropic organizations. "When people's portfolio net worth drops by 30 percent, things get tighter," said Rick Beckett, chief executive of Global Partnerships, a Seattle-based nonprofit.

Kristi Heim, Seattle Times

Philanthropic organizations in the Northwest have become increasingly ambitious about solving global problems such as disease and poverty, but the economic downturn is putting the squeeze on their pocketbooks.

"When people's portfolio net worth drops by 30 percent, things get tighter," said Rick Beckett, chief executive of Global Partnerships, a Seattle-based nonprofit.

Many organizations are facing the turmoil on two fronts: volatile food and energy prices and tightening credit have hurt the poorest people they serve, while shrinking assets in the affluent world are making it tougher to find donors.

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The economy needs spending, but people have discovered the virtue of thrift.

Paul Krugman, Star Tribune | MN

Ben Sargent

The long-feared capitulation of American consumers has arrived. According to Thursday's (October 30) GDP report, real consumer spending fell at an annual rate of 3.1 percent in the third quarter; real spending on durable goods (stuff like cars and TVs) fell at an annual rate of 14 percent.

To appreciate the significance of these numbers, you need to know that American consumers almost never cut spending. Consumer demand kept rising right through the 2001 recession; the last time it fell even for a single quarter was in 1991, and there hasn't been a decline this steep since 1980, when the economy was suffering from a severe recession combined with double-digit inflation.

Also, these numbers are from the third quarter -- the months of July, August, and September. So these data are basically telling us what happened before confidence collapsed after the fall of Lehman Brothers in mid-September, not to mention before the Dow plunged below 10,000. Nor do the data show the full effects of the sharp cutback in the availability of consumer credit, which is still under way.

The mission of the Strategic Corporate Initiative (SCI) project is to design, inspire, and direct a movement to transform the role of corporations in our society.

CorporateEthics.org

The problem this project is addressing is one that is familiar. Transnational corporations have become too dominant within our society. They exercise too much control over all levels of government, but especially our federal government. They have rapidly exploited sectors of our economy and society that should be preserved for “the common good” such as education, health, media, water, and forests. They’ve established free trade as the suit that trumps all others including human rights, labor, communities, and the environment. Unfortunately, efforts to redress this imbalance remain largely fragmented. Reform theorists are often disconnected from activists, who are generally disconnected from each other due to their specific issues.

This project has worked to define a roadmap that represents the convergent thinking of leading theorists and activists so that we might all engage in a better coordinated, long-term effort to redress the underlying causes of the myriad social and environmental problems that NGOs, foundations, and philanthropists attempt to solve - excessive corporate power and lack of accountability to all stakeholders.

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Related:

Series: Rethinking Resistence to Corporate Rule, Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County
"A corporation in law is just what the incorporation act makes it. It is the creature of the law and may be molded to any shape or for any purpose that the Legislature may deem most conducive to the common good."