Word: rodriguezes
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More contemporary stars like baseball's Alex (A-Rod) Rodriguez can ogle beauties like Miller and Heidi Klum modeling Victoria's Secret lingerie on a 150-foot runway (a show that will air on CBS on Dec. 3). They will party away in ballrooms decorated with acres of real foliage brought in to reproduce the hotel's original French gardens. In the background, a 60-piece orchestra and A-list acts like Robin Thicke will perform. Add to that a new 40,000-square-foot spa (where you can warm the marble of your Turkish hamam bed), an adjoining hotel...
...period last year, a result of a slowing economy and a dearth of financing for would-be car buyers. Total U.S. car and light-truck sales this year could come in at 13.5 million, 2.6 million fewer than last year. "That's in nobody's business plan," says Kimberly Rodriguez, an automotive specialist with Grant Thornton. "The best planning in the world cannot survive that fluctuation." It's now clear that GM can't survive as an ongoing entity without massive federal assistance. The company is burning through more than $2 billion each month. It has $16 billion left...
...were to go into a free-fall bankruptcy and didn't pay its trade debts, then the entire domestic auto industry shuts down," says Rodriguez. The system - the domestic auto plants and their interconnected group of suppliers - is far bigger than GM. It includes 54 North American manufacturing plants and at least 4,000 so-called Tier 1 suppliers - firms that feed parts and subassemblies directly to those plants. That includes mom-and-pop outfits but also a dozen or so large companies such as Lear, Johnson Controls and GM's former captive Delphi. Beyond those are thousands...
...workers pain. Assuming the government bridges GM to the future - or provides debtor-in-possession financing in a bankruptcy - there is still a ton of restructuring to do. The company operates 21 plants in North America and has three more that are scheduled to close. But Grant Thornton's Rodriguez says that still leaves five to go to match demand. "They still need to take structural steps: reduce suppliers, reduce the number of plants, reduce the cost structure and get rid of excessive debt." Most analysts say GM has to dump underperforming brands...
...Staff writer Nayeli E. Rodriguez can be reached at nrodrig@fas.harvard.edu...