I suppose it’s official. President Obama just announced the Chrysler/Fiat alliance. It took a while, but he eventually mentioned that the evil hedge funds (holding senior secured debt) forced them to use bankruptcy. The filing is expected later today.

I’m still curious about the pension plans. What happens to the pensions? There was one mention of the pension plan in association with Daimler AG, but it wasn’t detailed enough to let us know what is happening. Is Fiat or the government going to carry that burden? Are benefits going to get cut?

I’m also curious about the changes to the GM game. The GM bondholders have been playing hardball. I’m curious what happens to the Chrysler senior secured debtholders. The president vilified them by pointing out they were hedge funds seeking a different deal than the junior debtholders. Of course, shouldn’t the senior, secured lenders get a better deal than the junior lenders? This will likely drag out the bankruptcy process.

I think 30-60 days is ambitious, even if Fiat buys Chrysler out of bankruptcy.