Holy Jalopniks! Ray Wert Calls For GM Bankruptcy

The lovable dudes at Jalopnik are usually too busy trying to shoehorn Hemis into Datsuns or photoshopping NSFW dragon-on-car action to comment at length on the sad state of the American car industry. When they do, Jalop-in-Chief Ray Wert is usually trying too hard to love all God’s internal-combustion children equally to live up to TTAC’s lofty standards of callin’-it-like-it-is. Hell, the “industry apologist” label might even stick on Wert, thanks to his proliferation of the “Not A Bailout” meme just a few short months ago. But time has a funny way of bringing even the most fun-loving of auto enthusiasts around to the TTAC perspectiv e. In response to GM’s stock price free-fall, Wert has penned a lengthy piece calling on GM to declare bankruptcy. At least he had the decency to begin the piece by acknowledging “I’m not the first person to say it.” With that qualification aside, Wert proceeds to spit hot fire. “The pundits saying ‘bankruptcy is not an option’ are completely ignorant of the facts, living in an alternate reality or parroting the GM PR public line (a line I don’t begrudge GM for pushing given the need to be positive or else face a rush for the hills), because let’s be clear here — if the marketplace for credit does not change in the next year, bankruptcy is not only an option, it’s the only option.” And, says Wert channeling his inner Robert Farago (circa 2005), bankruptcy shouldn’t be feared. “Any form of court-mandated reorganization allows GM to reevaluate all sorts of deals — like the one recently signed with the UAW, with suppliers and most importantly, with creditors seeking repayment on the $43 billion in debt and $80 billion in other liabilities on the books at the General — potentially allowing the automaker to wipe some of that out.” Interminable sentences aside, Wert’s got a point. Better late than never.