Govt may take 50% stake in ailing GM

General Motors Corp, operating with $15.4 billion in US aid, would be at least half owned by the US government under a plan the automaker outlined yesterday to slash its debt and cut dealer ranks nearly in half.

The proposal, if accepted by the Obama administration, would give the Treasury at least half of the 60 billion shares in a reorganized GM, the automaker said.

"Political economics are now part of the economy in the US," said Sean McAlinden, a labor analyst and economist at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan.