The D Might Be Screwed But They Can Still Funk It Up

This morning I was talking to an ex-managing director in M&A at a bulge-bracket investment bank who “retired” from the banking business last summer. We were speaking about the market, in particular Citi’s and the Dow’s recent plunges, conjecturing if the Big C would go belly up (he said no chance; I say there's a good one) and when and where the index would bottom out (6,500 anyone?). We were also talking about the situation in The D. That is, Detroit, where we both were reared. His thoughts were if the Big Three receive a temporary bailout, the economy will come back perhaps as soon as the second quarter 2009, but if not, we could be looking at a few-year recession as a result of the fallout.

That said, just in from D.C. minutes ago: House Speaker Pelosi and crew told the Big Three, “Show us the plan, or we ain’t showing you the money.” Meaning someone in Detroit better start scribbling something down quickly or else there’s gonna be a lot of folks in Motown and well beyond joining the ranks of the unemployed.

There is good news out of the D, however. They can still funk it up like nobody’s business.