> My coworker announced today that he thinks the
> collapse of the U.S. economy is at hand. He said the
> bankruptcy laws are changing Oct. 17, and that he
> expects General Motors to declare bankruptcy before
> that happens.
The personal bankruptcy laws are changing, which will hurt lots of consumers and may unintentionally help burst the housing bubble (no more protected home equity, ergo creditors will be seizing lots of homes), but corporate bankruptcies are a different beast. Usually, corporations have lots of cash-flow and assets they can use to restructure. And while GM and Ford aren't doing too well, Daimler-Chrysler, Toyota, Honda and Hyundai are flush with cash.
The only thing which would trigger a genuine crash is, if the EU and East Asia suddenly decided to pull back on their purchases of US debt. Then things would get ugly.
-- DRR