Geithner, Henderson Open to GM Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy remains an option for GM as a last resort, both new chief Fritz Henderson and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said today. “You can’t rule options off the table,” Henderson told CNN’s State of the Union. Whatever happens, Geithner stressed on CBS’ Face the Nation that GM won’t disappear, insisting “We want them to be part of our future.” Asked whether the feds had been tougher on Detroit than Wall Street, Geithner said he wouldn't rule out replacing bank chiefs—as the administration did with former GM boss Rick Wagoner.

Washington also took aim at North Korea's nuclear ambitions on the Sunday circuit:

• Appearing on CNN, David Axelrod said President Obama "is committed to an aggressive regime" of unilateral disarmament of nukes and chastised Dick Cheney for alleging the new administration is making Americans less safe.
• Newt Gingrich called Obama's plan for global nuclear security a "wonderful fantasy idea," telling Fox News Sunday he would have disabled the North's long-range missile long ago.
• Pyongyang's action is "a violation, and it merits an appropriately strong United Nations response," ambassador to the UN Susan Rice declared on ABC's This Week.
• Geithner also denied that the Obama administration is being tougher on Detroit than Wall Street, saying the administration would sack financial executives if necessary.

(More General Motors stories.)