GM could shrink to 10 pct of peak size

To avoid being dismembered, GM could wind up with just 38,000 employees, or a little less than one-tenth of what it had at peak employment in 1970.

It all won’t matter, though, if the General goes bankrupt without a structured bankruptcy. That looks more and more likely. Bondholders simply won’t sign on the bottom line; reportedly, many have credit-default swap “bets” against GM’s future, anyway.

At the same time, the grousing by both bondholders and GM dealers who may get shut down indicates they still don’t get it.

For all we know, GM or its remnants may, by no later than 2015, have no more employees than Toyota does. In Toyota’s U.S. operations alone.