The end of GM?

Free Exchange on the failed auto industry bailout:

This is not a huge surprise. It’s still possible that something will come out of the legislature, but it’s difficult to see how anything other than some sort of bankruptcy gets past Senate Republicans. The interesting questions, then, are whether GM was being honest when it said it couldn’t get through December without $4 billion from the government, and what will Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson do when Rick Wagoner comes to them saying that he needs TARP funds immediately or GM will declare bankrupcty then and there.

It’s hard to imagine that Mr Paulson will turn GM down after the Lehman business, particularly over the matter of $4 billion or so, but stranger things have happened.