GM CEO Says Bankruptcy “Probable;” Wal-Mart Posts Flat 1Q Profit; BT Group Cuts Jobs, Dividend; PNC to Sell Stock, Raise Capital; GM, Chrysler Closures to Idle 50,000 Workers; Madoff Trustee to Pay Investors $100 Million; Oil Falls on IEA Forecast

John Stepek at Money Morning notes that Neils C. Jensen, in The Absolute Return Letter, reports that “using IMF statistics drawn from previous banking crises…the 12 most industrialised countries (including the US, UK and Japan) could need to issue a total of $33 trillion in debt to cover the costs of the crisis. And that’s not even a worst-case scenario – that’s based on the average rise in public debt in the three years following a banking crisis.”

In a market like this one, it pays to note the subtle differences between ostensibly similar assets. For example, there are car stocks and then there are car stocks. (Yes, I am writing about cars again, but not for the whole column, honest!)

Intel Dealt $1.45 Billion Fine; WSJ: Gov’t Wants Financial Sector Pay Overhaul; Verizon Divests Access Lines for Stock; AIG Says 5 Years to Pay Back Gov’t; Foreclosures Jump to Record High; Geithner: Small Banks to Get TARP Funds; Auto Dealers Get The Axe; Ford Raises $1.4 Billion From Stock Sale

USA, General Motors and the state of California all to go Bankrupt

In an odd bit of capitalist irony, the U.S. banking crisis could end up as the catalyst that finally jump-starts the long-moribund market for initial public stock offerings (IPOs).  In fact, it already appears to be happening.

Washington continues to flush tax dollars down the toilet in the name of ‘fixing’ the economy. It’s now up to Europe to keep free-market capitalism alive.

Krugman: U.S. in Danger of Lost Decade; Trichet Sees First Signs of Recovery; Plavix Could Have Serious Competitor; Intel Could Face Record Antitrust Fine; GM Open to Leaving Detroit; Microsoft in First Bond Offering; Dish Network Beats Expectations; Nortel Blows a Fuse

As deep as the U.S. auto industry’s financial crisis seems to be, there may actually be a fairly simple solution. Sell out to China. Nearly a decade ago, I warned that Detroit’s Big Three – General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and Chrysler LLC – had better learn to speak Chinese if they wanted to survive.

SAIC Motor Co. Ltd., China’s largest carmaker and the partner of both General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) and Volkswagen AG (OTC ADR: VLKAY) in that fast-growing Asian country, plans to launch a series of hybrid and electric vehicles by 2012 – part of a move by China’s carmakers to meet the growing market demand for “new-energy vehicles.”