"Surgical Bankruptcy"

Auto giant, Chrysler, will file for bankruptcy after talks between creditors and government officials fizzled last night.  This "surgical bankruptcy" will radically reorganize the division of ownership:  55% to Chrysler's retiree health fund, 35% to Fiat, 8% to the United States and two percent to Canada.  

Particularly striking to some economists and historians is that the plan turns over ownership of a major U.S. industrial company to an employee-run trust, a deal that is "unprecedented on this scale," according to Harley Shaiken, a University of California at Berkeley professor and expert on unions.

The government plan also calls for ensuring that Chrysler maintains substantial U.S. manufacturing operations. It requires that at least 40 percent of company sales volumes remain manufactured domestically, or for the company's total production in this country to remain at least at 90 percent of its U.S. production last year.