[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/06/01/intv.debra.june.art.jpg caption="GM bondholder Debra June speaks to CNN's John Roberts."]

General Motors turns to bankruptcy today in the hopes of finding a new start. The move comes after a majority of those holding $27 billion in GM bonds agreed to swap that debt for a stake in the new General Motors.

Debra June is a small bondholder who six years ago invested $70,000 in GM bonds. She predicts that investment is now worth less than $200. She spoke to John Roberts on CNN’s “American Morning” Monday.

John Roberts: You invested $70,000 in GM bonds some six years ago. As a result of this deal, that is going to be converted to equity shares. What's that investment worth now?

Debra June: Well, what happened, John, I got this booklet at the original thing. This is a 200-page booklet and they sent this in the mail and the offering was two shares of stock for every $1,000. That's 140 shares of stock. They said originally in the booklet it was going to be 225 shares, but as you kept reading the booklet it said they were going to convert that to 101 reverse-split, which would be two shares of stock. $70,000 for 140 shares of stock.

There was no way I was going to take the deal. Then they came out and they sweetened the deal. And I tried to contact General Motors. I left a message with the people I called up. I talked to the people on the phone. I e-mailed two e-mails, “Please let me know what the deal is.” I'm with GM Bondholders Unite, the 60-plus group and also the Main Street Bondholders. What they're doing to the people is ridiculous. It's horrible. You're wiping out common people that saved money. I'm not a corporation.

Roberts: No, you're a school teacher, we should point out. So $70,000 is a huge amount of money to you.

June: It is. It is. And it's a shame. I mean what they're doing, they're saying 10% and this and that. I don't know what they're doing. People out there have saved their money. We've done the right thing. I pay my bills and here all of a sudden, they want to give me two shares. 140 shares of stock.

Roberts: And that stock, all in total is worth about what, $200?

June: I believe so right now.

Roberts: Maybe less than that.

June: Even less. When they regroup, even if the stock was $10. That's unbelievable. I mean I can't imagine someone doing something like that.

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Longtime consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader tells CNN the potential GM bankruptcy could put the car maker on the fast track to China. GM is already vying to become the number auto builder in the communist nation. Now GM has plans to expand its operations in China with hopes of importing cars back into the US.

In a drive to survive, GM and Chrysler stay one step ahead of a bankruptcy filing.

GM will scrap the 84-year-old Pontiac brand, close more plants, cut 23,000 workers by 2011 and essentially shrink by a third over the next six years.

If bondholders accept a deal to convert their stake to stock - and the company avoids bankruptcy - the government and the unions would end up owning 89% of GM.

Meanwhile, Chrysler won more concessions from its unions as it races toward a Thursday deadline to restructure or face bankruptcy. The clock ticks for these two companies. Either way, it is bad news for American autoworkers and the towns they live in. There will be more jobs lost.

Swine flu is hammering airline stocks and anything related to travel and leisure. If SARS and bird flu are any indication, here’s how this story plays out: Treasuries rally because they are seen as the global safe haven. Drug stocks rally – especially any company with a flu virus or treatment on the market or in the pipeline.

Stocks in general remain nervous, because a global health threat comes at a time when the global system is fragile and confidence scarce. That said, I am impressed stocks have held up so well. Maybe the cue is from GM and a feeling it might avoid a catastrophic bankruptcy.

CNN's Carol Costello examines the emotional ups and downs of trading in the stock market.

The recent Wall Street meltdown has everyone scratching their heads—and looking for answers. Some people think the answer may actually be found in the personality and emotions of the people doing the trading.

If you’ve ever seen Eddy Murphy’s movie “Trading Places” you’ve seen what happens on a trading floor when emotions go wild. “You idiot,” says the character Mortimer Duke to his trader as the trading floor erupts with emotion, “get in there and sell, sell!!”

An MIT professor agrees that personality and emotions of traders play a key role in explaining why people end up making bad trades and losing money.

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[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/04/15/obama.economy.georgetown.getty.jpg caption="President Obama speaks on the economy at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, on April 14, 2009."]

The president’s “major speech” on the economy yesterday did not cover new ground. It did not provide any fresh programs for stimulating the economy. Yet there was something new there: the president gave the most exhaustive explanation yet of his plan to reboot the American economy.

There was a lot more there than “glimmers of hope.”

Here’s what I mean. He was speaking directly to the American people, not announcing new plans, but selling what he has already done. He fiercely supported the bank bailouts. He acknowledged more difficult and “unpopular” decisions are ahead. He chastised his critics point by point. And he told American in great detail why he is tackling painful and politically-sensitive problems at the very same time as this financial crisis.

“I want every American to know that each action we take and each policy we pursue is driven by a larger vision of America's future – a future where sustained economic growth creates good jobs and rising incomes; a future where prosperity is fueled not by excessive debt, or reckless speculation, or fleeing profit, but is instead built by skilled, productive workers; by sound investments that will spread opportunity at home and allow this nation to lead the world in the technologies, the innovations, and discoveries that will shape the 21st century. That's the America I see."

It’s a reboot of the American economy. He said it could take many years.

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