That will ultimately be the question asked about what kind of a future the German carmaker Opel faces.

Parent General Motors said on Thursday that it indeed wanted
to sell a majority stake in the unit to Canadian auto parts
group Magna and Russia’s Sberbank, a decision long favoured by the German government under Chancellor Angela Merkel.

With about two weeks to go until a general election in
Europe’s biggest economy, this would clearly be a political
victory — but the question remains whether it will also be an
economic one.

Merkel said that GM’s recommendation — which would see
Magna’s Brussels-listed rival bidder RHJ International losing
out in the battle that has dragged on for months — is going to
be tied to conditions.

Although she said that those conditions would be manageable and
negotiable, doubts remain about whether this will be the new
beginning the company is hoping for.

“The most meaningful choice would have been a global company
that produces several millions of cars (per year), such as GM or
a Chinese producer. Magna is not a producer of cars in the
classic sense, and I could imagine that some other producers
could be upset about the decision. As a consequence, Opel may
lose some contracts,” said NordLB analyst Frank Schwope.

“This seems to be a political decision rather than an
economical one.”

What do you think?

This economy is a killer. Just ask New Yorkers on Craigslist. 

You may not have heard of the Killers, a music group from Las Vegas that’s been variously called the next U2 and the best Mormon rock band of all time. They are playing tonight at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.

Tickets, at $45, sold out in a few minutes when they went on sale in late September, and have been reselling for 10 times that amount on the secondary market.  That’s where Craigslist, and a former hedge fund associate, come in.

A Reuters reporter was not willing to pay the $350 asking price per ticket to see the show, and emailed the seller, pointing out a recession is under way.  The former hedge fund associate emailed back: “I’m not a scalper. I’m a ticket arbitrageur.”  So we called him up.

“I really like this band. I can play some of their songs,” he said. “New York is an expensive place and I don’t have a paycheck coming in today.” He did not want to be identified since he is looking for work.

The Ivy League-educated 25-year-old, a Killers fan, bought tickets to Friday’s show a few days before his Park Avenue hedge fund laid him off, along with several others. The fund paid out unused sick days and vacation time, but no severance. He’s received inquiries about tickets from across New York’s financial industry, but mostly from its higher strata.

“Only VPs are still able to still afford luxury,” he said. ”The belt’s already been tightened. It used to be the associates and the analysts were the most visible, making money in this economy, because we walked around with new Hermes ties and bought all the hot clothes. Now that’s clearly over.”

The Killers are not much older than he is, but they also seem to know something about hard times.

“Dreams aren’t what they used to be, some things slide by so carelessly,” Brandon Flowers sings on their single “Smile Like You Mean It.”

Expect to hear that song tonight at Hammerstein — if you can afford a ticket.

(Photo of Brandon Flowers in concert from Reuters)