Tick-Tock

Ticking, ticking, ticking like one of those clocks on a big, bad bomb (ever wonder why Hollywood mad-bombers go to all the effort to put countdown clocks on their bombs? Who are they're for? Nobody's supposed to see the bomb let alone know how long before to goes off). But this is not Hollywood. This is real life. Very real life. And this bomb is metaphorical to be sure but the American car builder General Motors will implode no more completely than if it was a literal one. Reuters is reporting on a Wall Street Journal article in the Saturday edition that, in lieu of a viable restructuring plan presented to the U.S. Government in exchange for 17.4 billion dollars in federal loans, a filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy is a real option. The deadline; 17 February 2009 Tuesday

Our president has been saying for a long time already that things, financial things, will get worse before the get better. Worse before better is an abstract notion for some if not most. What does worse look like. Well, it kind of looks like this. A brand that's ingrained in our national consciousness. It's a brand that's nearly omnipresent. The pervasiveness of the logo spans the width and breadth of our country. And it's in very real danger of going away. Whether it should be allowed to should be debated. My point is that it's this kind of thing that brings the recession nearing depression into such sharp focus it liable to cut.