GM Stock Way, Way, Way Down

General Motors stock is trading at a price not seen since 1933. So does that spell certain bankruptcy for the auto giant? Not necessarily:

Erich Merkle, an independent auto analyst in Grand Rapids, Mich., said he believes the government will still do whatever it takes to avoid a filing, particularly a move toward Chapter 7 and the disastrous consequences it could bring.

"There would be an economy before a GM liquidation and an economy after," he said. "In the latter, we'd be having this conversation with two cans and a string."

That's not a particularly compelling scenario, though I'm sure the feds will shovel more money at GM before it finally fails. Meanwhile, rival Ford is doing much better than Chrysler and GM.

Reason.tv looked at why GM was screwed long before the economy went into the shitter: