LETTERS

There’s a Cost to Bad Treatment of Creditors

Creditors must be treated fairly in bankruptcies and lender confidence rests on the presumption courts will enforce the law.

Sept. 11, 2014 4:07 p.m. ET

Your editorial “Mow-Down in Motown” (Sept. 2) notes creditors must be treated fairly in bankruptcies and that lender confidence rests on the presumption courts will enforce the law.

Perhaps it’s prudent to revisit the General Motors bankruptcy in which bondholders received the very short end of the stick as well as U.S. taxpayers, who lost tens of billions on loans and stock, and additional billions in taxes due to the unprecedented transfer of business losses from the old to the new GM ($45 billion plus). So much for fairness and the rule of law when the government has its fat finger on the scales of justice. Invest in blue state or blue city bonds? Just one word: Argentina.

Robert Bell

Encinitas, Calif.