THE GM BONDHOLDER AND TOUGH LOVE

I might as well say it- I'm an old person and I live on what my father always called "a limited income". I'm a saver and don't like gambling, and some years ago gave up any experimenting with the stock market because it made me nervous to read about it in the morning paper. So all of my money is invested in a collection of very conservative bonds and it made me happy to read the list of those solid substantial corporations I was investing my life savings to. They don't look so good now in our financial debris. There's Citicorp, Bank of America, Wachovia, Credit Suisse, and my heavy hitter, GENERAL MOTORS. God save me, I am a GM bondholder and have been for many years.

The company which in my naivite I never considered would ever fail - how could Chevvies and Buicks and Cadillacs ever go away? It is inconceivable. Now we hear that GM is in the process of being given "tough love". The bondholders, I read, are given the choice of negotiating down the face value of the bonds or dying. No one has asked me if I want to negotiate - I suppose only the Wall Street types are good enough to take part in this death march. I haven't even been notified of it. I don't want to negotiate. I thought a bond was a contract between the corporation and the innocent buyer - You paid the face value and some ten years down the line the corporation paid you back. Aren't contracts not to be broken? Look at those jokers at AIG with their gross bonuses. Weren't we told that they were contracts and had to be paid even if AIG was on the verge of bankruptcy? Why doesn't that apply to me? I don't need tough love. I need for them to live up to the promise they made me.

n