U.S. President Barack Obama said General Motors Corp. will reemerge from financial turmoil a "strong company" and that permitting it and Chrysler Corp. to collapse could have triggered an economic depression.
Allowing either automaker to liquidate would have been a "huge anti-stimulus on the economy as a whole and could have dragged us deeper into recession or even depression," Obama told C-SPAN in an interview.
The two troubled car companies are under pressure from the Obama administration's to reduce costs and come up with a more economically viable business plan. GM, surviving on $15.4 billion in U.S. loans, faces a probable bankruptcy filing by June 1, a deadline set by Obama.
"Ultimately, I think GM is going to be a strong company and we are going to be pulling out as soon as the economy recovers and they've completed their restructuring," Obama said in the interview that will air in full tomorrow morning.
Chrysler Corp. already is reorganizing in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
