As someone else has pointed out, the average retail investor that might own some GM bonds through a mutual fund would maybe lose a few percent of their portfolio. The average GM retiree losing his pension/healthcare is looking at a near total loss of income.
That said, I definitely see the legal problem here. The two solutions that come to mind for solving it are:
1. Let the retiree VEBA go without the last $10 billion owed it, accepting whatever that means for retirees.
2. Have the government pay the $10 billion in cash rather than GM stock.
(Just as a disclosure, my dad is a GM retiree. He gets a $35k/yr pension and health insurance. His insurance used to be quite awesome, but in the last five years has become merely 'good'. Best financial decision he made was to divest his GM stock in November 2003, which at the time was 80% of his portfolio.)
As someone else has pointed out, the average retail investor that might own some GM bonds through a mutual fund would maybe lose a few percent of their portfolio. The average GM retiree losing his pension/healthcare is looking at a near total loss of income.
That said, I definitely see the legal problem here. The two solutions that come to mind for solving it are:
1. Let the retiree VEBA go without the last $10 billion owed it, accepting whatever that means for retirees.
2. Have the government pay the $10 billion in cash rather than GM stock.
(Just as a disclosure, my dad is a GM retiree. He gets a $35k/yr pension and health insurance. His insurance used to be quite awesome, but in the last five years has become merely 'good'. Best financial decision he made was to divest his GM stock in November 2003, which at the time was 80% of his portfolio.)