Being from Michigan, and the Detroit area, in particular. It means that my recently retired parents' pension is in danger. Their medical-coverage-for-life, already ends next week.
No one is more critical of GM than I am. The one-time world's largest corporation, let itself go to Hell. Seriously? They were THE LARGEST corporation in the world, and they didn't have an R&D department that could keep up with the innovations of the rest of the world? It's staggering how many chances they had, and that they blew. The oil embargo of the 1970's should've been enough to shake some sense into them, but instead, aside from popping out half attempts like the Chevette/T1000, they did little to develop gas efficient cars. They just waited for oil supplies to return, and went back to business as usual. Their past 30 years are littered with buckling to the unions (with their, "Hey, new guy, slow down, you'll make the rest of us look bad" mentality), the Hummer, the death of the EV, the general lack of timely innovation, etc. The very subject of GM overall, makes me go ballistic.
That said, I know everyday people that worked their asses off for that company, and are now in danger of spending their "golden years" in fear of finances. It's not their faults that the company was a mess, and they shouldn't have to pay for it. Beyond that, it's not just, "Oh well, too bad, a company bites it." The entire state of Michigan, and to an extent, the Great Lakes area, revolves around that one industry. "Detroit", beyond the generic term used for all the auto industry, and the now pitiful, yet once vibrant city, for better or worse, still needs that industry, until they figure out a way to diversify the economy. Some in-roads appear to be on the horizon, with "Hollywood" investing in the area (on the other hand, great, from one monolith, to another). It also goes beyond the city, the entire state relies on it. On a very simplified level, Michigan has three industries; the auto industry in the south-east, the dwindling agricultural industry in the center, and tourism in the north and most coasts. Everything else, revolves around them, and really, even the tourism is an auxilliary industry to the auto industry, because the majority of the "tourists" in Michigan, are FROM Michigan. Countless people in the south, migrate "up north", every weekend. When you can't make the mortgage on your main house, you're certainly not hanging on to your "cottage", or travelling, when it comes time for cuts.
Do I think GM screwed up? Abso-freakin-lutely!!! But the dismissive "screw 'em" answer, is overly flippant, and doesn't fully consider what a complex issue that this actually is.