Bankruptcy
This page shows companies that have gone through bankruptcy. Oddly, the economy survived all of them. In fact, some of these companies are still in business. At least I pay PG and E for electricity every month. It's possible some politicians lost elections because of one or more of these. I know certain political parties made a lot of hay out of things like Enron.
I don't know where GM's assets would wind up if they went through the process. I assume they would start with Chapter 11. Sure, there would be a lot of pain passed around. Are permanent subsidies the solution? Like AmTrak?
I suspect the real reason GM is getting all the special help from the current administration can be found here.