Photo: Comrade Lenin warming up the crowd for Comrades Obama, Rattner and Geithner

War on Capitalism Alert:

News came down Friday that the informal group of creditors balking at the White House shakedown -- I mean, Chrysler bid -- agreed to disband  group oppposition to the deal. I saw a few stories about this, which included this excerpt of statement released by the group's lead lawyer Thomas E. Lauria:

“After a great deal of soul-searching and quite frankly agony, Chrysler’s non-TARP lenders concluded they just don’t have the critical mass to withstand the enormous pressure and machinery of the US government. As a result, they have collectively withdrawn their participation in the court case.”

Yes, that's the same Thomas E. Lauria who publicly charged the White House with threatening client Perella Weinsten last week in a radio interview. I looked around for the full statement and here it from Campaign for Liberty via NY Times DealBook:

After a great deal of soul-searching and quite frankly agony, Chrysler's Non-TARP lenders concluded they just don't have the critical mass to withstand the enormous pressure and machinery of the US government. As a result, they have collectively withdrawn their participation in the court case."

In withdrawing from the fight, each of the members indicated that, despite their inability to continue active opposition to the stripping of their rights in the bankruptcy process, they did not intend to consent to the 29 cent proposal. They continue to stand on and believe in the validity of the principles previously presented:

• They acquired contract rights for their investors that entitle them to recover first and ahead of Chrysler's other stakeholders;
• The legal, financial and business principles that support their position are longstanding and well-known;
• The current U.S. government-sponsored proposal would defeat their rights to the unfair and unprecedented advantage of Chrysler's other stakeholders;
• They have been and remain prepared to compromise those rights on commercially reasonable terms in order to facilitate the reorganization of Chrysler;

• They feel that undue pressure has been brought to bear by the Executive Branch to coerce them and others to accept the pending proposal.

This story, despite the abstruse-seeming lingo and remote-seeming financial context, is the story of the Obama administration's war on capitalism. It behooves us all to pay attention, come up to speed ASAP ... and fight back.