May 6, 2005
WERE THEY PAYING ANY ATTENTION?:
Junk Ratings Make a Big Splash, Ripples to Follow (JONATHAN FUERBRINGER, 5/06/05, NY Times)
Many investors knew it was coming, but they did not expect that two of the nation's biggest issuers of bonds would be reduced to junk status so soon.
Soon? It's years late. Given their pension and health care obligations they are not functional entities. Only sentiment has kept them alive. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 6, 2005 6:37 AM
Comments
When the price of each unit you build includes more for the cost of healthcare than the cost of the steel, you're basically a giant branch of Medicare/Medicade that makes mediocre cars and trucks on the side.
Posted by: John Resnick at May 6, 2005 10:17 AMIt doesn't help when they have mismanaged their credit end so badly.
This was not news, people have known they were junk status for at least 2 years.
Posted by: bart at May 6, 2005 12:17 PMRight -- this is not surprising. A good friend of mine works for Hertz, which is basically owned by Ford, and he can tell you all about the economic craphole they have dug themselves into.
Posted by: Matt Murphy at May 6, 2005 7:05 PM