Sunday June 25, 2006

GM's ratings cut deeper into junk territory

news.yahoo.com :

Two major rating agencies cut General Motors Corp.'s debt rating deeper into junk territory after the automaker said it was offering banks collateral to renew a credit facility. Rating agencies had placed GM's debt on review for downgrade earlier because of concerns the automaker would have to offer collateral to bank lenders, leaving fewer assets for bondholders in the event of a bankruptcy.

GM, which lost $10.6 billion in 2005, is cutting 30,000 jobs and closing 12 plants as part of a broad restructuring effort. It is also offering early retirement incentives to more than 125,000 factory workers, including about 13,000 at its bankrupt former parts subsidiary, Delphi Corp.

Standard & Poor's cut GM's senior unsecured debt rating to "B-minus," the sixth-highest junk rating, from "B" and said it may cut the rating again. The bank loan was rated "B-plus," the fourth-highest junk rating. S&P also released a recovery report on GM concluding that unsecured bondholders would likely recover 56% of par in the event of a GM bankruptcy.

Moody's Investors Service slashed GM's senior unsecured rating to a deeply speculative "Caa1," seven steps below investment grade, from "B3." The outlook is negative, meaning the rating may be cut again over the next 12 to 18 months.

See also :

1. GM to cut 30000 jobs
2. GM bankruptcy possible: S&P

(2006-06-25 22:47:00 SGT) [Biz] Permalink

Cut fuel use and curb population

peakoil.com -> shns.com :

Global warming has vaulted into the news, thanks to the release of "An Inconvenient Truth," in which former Vice President Al Gore raises the alarm about the impact of carbon emissions on our planet. We read reports about fuel-efficient cars, wind turbines and emerging high-tech energy solutions. Yet there is near-total silence about the role of global population growth and the need for population stabilization. Serious discussion of population stabilization was absent from international climate meetings in both Kyoto and Montreal, and from almost every other public forum. As population increases, the challenges become ever more difficult.

After all, it is people who drive the Hummers and the hybrids, who heat and cool homes and offices. Although the vast majority of population growth occurs in the least-developed nations, they, too, are using more fossil fuels every day as they seek better lives. We know that family planning works everywhere. When women and couples are free to make their own informed choices and have access to education and family planning, they choose to have smaller families. Thirty years ago, for example, Mexican women had almost seven children each. Today, thanks to education and the availability of family planning, they have an average of 2.6 children.

More people will use more energy. The sooner we stabilize population, the more likely we are to meet the climate-change challenge. If we had zero population growth, part of the global-warming problem would, well, melt away. Global warming is too important just to be left to the politicians or to the energy experts. It's about people - all of us. It's about how many of us there are and how we choose to live our modern lives. It's about the very personal decisions we make about when, whether, and how many children we choose to have.

(2006-06-25 22:36:59 SGT) [Env] Permalink

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