Global Automotive World is rapidly changing its appearance under the influence of the global economic crisis. General Motors, founded in 1908, the largest automakers in the world for 77 years, applied to the court a statement of voluntary bankruptcy on June 1, which provides court protection from creditors. Most recently, symbolizing the power and dynamism of the American economy GM is now entering a tenuous band of crisis management under state control.

General Motors told the court that its overall debt has reached $ 172.8 billion, that is twice the value of its assets, and it could not undertake a restructuring. This is the largest-scaled of bankruptcies in the American industry.

Restructuring under the leadership of the American state would require the U.S. government $ 50 billion, in exchange for this the U.S. government will receive about 60% GM. The government of Canada, on which territory there are a number of GM factories, will receive 11.7% stake in GM in exchange for loans of $ 9.5 billion. A further 17.5% stake in the health insurance fund will go to the union United Auto Workers, acting on a North American factories GM. Owners of GM bonds will receive 10% of the shares of automakers, since their share can be increased by another 15%.

«The new GM» must occur in 60-90 days, after which the company will get out of court protection from creditors. Basically, the restructuring will bring to a quick sale of unprofitable assets and the elimination of unprofitable brands such as Saturn and Hummer. At least 11 North American factories of GM will be closed. Also, due to a new contract with United Auto Workers union costs for labor will be reduced. About 21 000 members of the 54 000 workers at GM plants in North America will lose their jobs.

As a result of the restructuring the «new GM» should reduce its debt by half and reserve the brands Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick and GMC in the U.S. market. However, it is clear that as a result of the restructuring the «new GM» will be much smaller than the «old» one.

Almost simultaneously with the GM, Crysler, the third-largest U.S. automaker declared about its voluntary bankruptcy. Italian Fiat will restructure its assets.

Immediate effect from the bankruptcy of the pillars of the American automobile industry will be the sharp decline of its share in the domestic market, which inevitably will take the competitors. Asian companies – Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Hyundai are more likely to do so.

Chinese oil company-giant re-emerged as the largest in the world with its market capitalization.

Every year in June, the newspaper The Financial Times publishes top FT 500, which is the rating of the largest capitalized companies in the world. A month before the publication of the rating, it became apparent that despite the crisis and the fall in oil prices, the fight for the championship will be the oil industry: the Chinese governmental PetroChina and American private company Exxon Mobil.

On May 25, the world’s news agencies reported that the capitalization of PetroChina on the Shanghai Stock Exchange rose by three per cent and reached the mark of the 336 billion dollars. At first glance in this mediocre news there was only one thing interesting: namely, the three per cent was the lacking number for the Chinese company in order to become the most expensive company in the world.

The point is that the main competitor of the Chinese company – Exxon Mobil – cost 335.9 billion dollars as a result of trades on Friday, May 22. On May 25, they were not able to beat the record of PetroChina: the tender in the United States on that day did not take place because of the national holiday – the Day of Remembrance.

On May 26, shares of PetroChina in Shanghai went down by 0.08 percent. Thus, the investors of the American company had only to slightly increase the value of Exxon Mobil in order to regain its title of the largest in the world. And so it happened: on May 26, Exxon Mobil shares went up by 1.42 per cent, while the capitalization became 340.65 billion dollars.

Who will be put on the first place of FT 500 is already known, as the classification is drawn up by market capitalization by March 31. If this time no surprises happen and reporting date will not be changed, then ExxonMobil will be the first.

Since the results of bidding for major world markets are published in real time, we have an opportunity to see how the capitalization of the largest companies has changed in the world during the past year. Thus, despite the fall in oil prices, their places among the largest companies retain not only Exxon Mobil and PetroChina, but also another oil and gas corporation – Royal Dutch Shell.

Another candidate for the considerable drop in the ranking became “the bronze prize-winner” of last year – General Electric. During not the whole year the capitalization of company decreased from 370 to 139 billion dollars. So this time, General Electric will almost certainly not be in the first three. True, although the almost all American manufacturer in the world (from light bulbs to aircraft engines) should not worry: in 2009 it headed one of the most prestigious rankings – Global 2000, which is compiled on the basis of market capitalization, revenues, assets and profits.

The present state of affairs of the economy is compelling the credit card debtors around the country begin contemplating about consolidating their credit card debts. There are various advantages of doing it. Nevertheless, a question does arise in your mind: would credit card debt consolidation damage my credit? Following are the five most significant advantages of credit card debt consolidation that would also answer the above question.

U.S. congressional budget analysts have raised their estimate of the net cost to taxpayers for the government’s financial rescue program to $356 billion, an increase of $167 billion from earlier estimates.

The Congressional Budget Office had originally projected the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program would cost taxpayers $189 billion.

The additional cost, which applies to TARP spending for fiscal years 2009 and 2010, was included in the CBO’s March projection of a $1.8 trillion deficit for fiscal 2009, which ends September 30.