King Arthur Movie Tristan

If you're a Chrysler worker, like say... me, this morning there's more than snow falling from the sky:

Chrysler Canada Inc. has warned Ottawa and Queen's Park that it could close its two assembly plants in Canada, eliminating more than 8,000 direct jobs, and shift the work to the United States if the two governments fail to provide $1.6-billion in emergency financial help.

A submission for government money and the best business case these guys can come up with is blackmail?

Meanwhile, in the US, Chrysler has hired bankruptcy specialists, with expectations that they can't make it to the end of the month:

Chrysler LLC has hired a prominent law firm to provide counsel on a possible bankruptcy filing, people familiar with the matter said, adding to concerns the auto maker could go into default by the end of the month.

It's worth noting that Chrysler is owned by Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. one of the largest private equity investment firms around. They have mucho dinero, but won't move money into the Chrysler arm. The question the Canadian Government needs to ask itself: if Cerberus won't throw good money after bad, should you?

Interestingly, in the comments to the Globe article sentiment is running at almost a consensus to let them fail.

I'm not going to comment further, because I can't possibly be objective, but I will add this: Previously production decisions were made on a month to month basis, even quarter to quarter. Recently, that changed to week to week. It now appears to be day to day. Whatever their plan is, it's not long term.