Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/in-detroit-mixed-emotions-over-gms-bankruptcy-move Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Paul Solman reports from Detroit on how General Motors' bankruptcy filing may impact different company stakeholders -- from union members to bondholders to car dealers -- and explains why the company chose reorganization over liquidation. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. GWEN IFILL: Now more on the General Motors story. Economics correspondent Paul Solman spoke to GM stakeholders, from workers to bondholders to dealers. His report about the company's fight for survival is part of our series on making sense of financial news.JIM DOLLINGER, Buick salesman: This is a 2009 Buick Lucerne. And I want you to understand the quality of this car. PAUL SOLMAN: In grim Flint, Michigan, the upbeat Jim Dollinger, also known as Buick Man. JIM DOLLINGER: It's elegant. It's understated. It's classy. It's powerful. It's substantial. PAUL SOLMAN: By his own admission, GM's most successful Buick salesman ever, Dollinger is a reminder of something we've heard for years. JIM DOLLINGER: Wouldn't you really rather have a Buick? PAUL SOLMAN: No, not just that old line, but that bankruptcy isn't the end of the world. Buick Man is hoping, like many in Michigan, that even as GM incredibly shrinks and makes orphans of Pontiac, Hummer, Saturn, well, the sun will come up tomorrow.Just to be clear: You don't even work at this dealership anymore. JIM DOLLINGER: That's irrelevant. This is about you and the car, not me. PAUL SOLMAN: I see. All right.Meanwhile, petitioning for Chapter 11 bankruptcy is about giving hobbled firms and those tied to them a chance to keep selling. By contrast is a Chapter 7 liquidation, says law professor Laura Bartell.LAURA BARTELL, professor, Wayne State University Law School: Where the company that existed prior to bankruptcy sells all of its assets, the proceeds are distributed to its creditors, and it ceases to exist. The alternative is a reorganization under Chapter 11. PAUL SOLMAN: What's the point of a reorganization? LAURA BARTELL: Survival. PAUL SOLMAN: If GM had liquidated, dumped assets in a bonfire sale of its former vanities, and died, its creditors, from banks and bondholders to the UAW, would have gotten a dime or less for each dollar of GM promises. That's the threat GM used to wring concessions, says Bartell. LAURA BARTELL: You have to come along, get with the game, or I'm going to jump off the ledge, I'm going to shoot myself in the head, I will convert to a Chapter 7, we'll liquidate the company, and you will get virtually nothing.