Speed and change have so far been the hallmark of the Obama administration, at least in the business and financial services world.
We saw it first in the bankruptcy court. Within 45 days, a deal was struck and closed to sell Chrysler’s operating assets under Section 363 of Chapter 11 of the US bankruptcy code, to a newly-created shell company, called New Chrysler, all of the stock of which was issued to auto unions, Fiat and the US Government in return for promises to provide New Chrysler with skilled labour, technology and government loans. Never mind that several of the secured lenders objected to the sale. Never mind that the assets of Chrysler, which served as collateral for secured loans of $6.9bn (£4.2bn), were valued at their liquidation price of $2bn (£1.2bn) for the purpose of repaying the secured lenders, but that the same assets, when transferred to New Chrysler, were re-valued at $25bn (£15bn) for the purpose of compensating unsecured creditors.
