As any good debt counselor will tell you, paying down your debt isn't enough. You need enough cash on hand to deal with ongoing expenses and extra funds for any major bills. Otherwise, you end-up scrambling to borrow more money and digging yourself into a deeper hole– until you can't. The same rules apply to General Motors. They need to pay their workers, dealers and suppliers on a regular basis, and they need extra money for large, one-time expenses (e.g. worker buyouts). Although GM claims to have enough money to stay the course, the truth is they are only one "exceptional expense" away from Chapter 11.

According to GM's recent quarterly statement, The General has $17.4b in cash, $1.4b in marketable securities and useable assets of $2.8b in their VEBA (Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association) trust. That works out to $21.6 billion– an increase of around $1.2b from the prior quarter. The financial markets were heartened by the resulting black ink– even though the increase was more a reflection of accounting practices than a healthy increase in income. Despite this optimism, GM's situation is just as precarious as it was throughout '05; the Delphi dilemma remains dangerously unresolved.