Political & Elections

Poetsheart · Senior Member

RE: Ford ad attacks bailouts

Cartera · Guru

Ford asked for a $9b credit line itself and management absolutely was completely behind the government help because of the interdependence. I guess if people are stupid enough to choose a Ford because of their inability to understand what when on, then Ford may as well take advantage of it.

jazzy · Senior Member

Here's part of an interview the Ford CEO Mullally did with the Daily Beast.

Thanks for sitting down with us. Does Barack Obama deserve credit for saving Detroit?

The government’s intervention was absolutely key to helping create a chance for GM and Chrysler going forward. That’s why I testified on behalf of GM and Chrysler, as you know. The reason we did was that we believed—like two presidents [Bush and Obama]—that if GM and Chrysler would have gone into freefall bankruptcy, they would have taken the supply base down and taken the industry down plus maybe turned the U.S. recession into a depression.

So I think we did the right thing by testifying on their behalf and I think that the government did the right thing for that critical industry at that time to step in and help.

But if your competitors can conduct themselves in a fiscally irresponsible way, then declare bankruptcy, get bailed out by the government and launch anew, is the system rigged in a sense against companies like Ford that meet their financial obligations?

I think that it goes with the circumstance…They clearly were bankrupt companies. But having said that, I think it was a bigger issue of systemic risk both on the financial system and also on the manufacturing system.

We’ll never know exactly whether we could have let both those industries go under and survive. But what I knew then and what I know now, I think the government did the right thing. The chance of catastrophic failure was very high.

I’m a capitalist and a market-driven person and so day in and day out, so [generally] I’d like to continue to see that the market decide who gets a chance to be in business.

I'd provide the link, but the last one didn't work so I must be doing something wrong. l

jazzy · Senior Member

So Ford's marketing department wants an ad specifically to appeal to conservatives. Fair enough.

A tad disengenous, though, since at the time of the bailout, Ford's CEO supported the federal assistance to its competitors.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/credit_crisis/auto_industry/index.html

I don't think Ford was being altruistic in lobbying to help its two U.S. competitors. Letting GM and Chrysler go under would have resulted in massive job losses not only for those two companies, but for thousands of auto-related manufacturing and supply companies. And small businesses in communities where those workers live and in the communities of the laid-off workers of related industries.

Ford was concerned that the tsunami effect of such a collapse in the auto industry would ripple through the American economy, roiling the stock market and making millions of people poorer....and thus swamp its own business. So they were in favor of the bailout. It was a very scary time....people forget that.

-- Edited by jazzy on Friday 16th of September 2011 12:52:53 PM

pima · Guru

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/09/16/ford-tv-ad-slams-obama-auto-bailouts

In its most political ad in the so-called "Drive One" ads where real drivers are thrust before cameras to explain why they picked Ford, a real Ford F-150 pick-up driver is featured.

[Check out political cartoons about the economy.]

His name is Chris. After he sits down the "reporters" bark "Chris, Chris." One asks him to explain why "was buying American important to you."

Sitting and looking sincere and serious, Chris says: "I wasn't going to buy another car that was bailed out by our government. I was going to buy from a manufacturer that's standing on their own: win, lose, or draw. That's what America is about is taking the chance to succeed and understanding when you fail that you gotta' pick yourself up and go back to work. Ford is that company for me."

[See the month’s best political cartoons.]

A Ford spokeswoman confirmed that Chris is an actual Ford owner and that those are his real words (the ad series is all unscripted).

Great for Ford that they got a customer because they didn't take the bail out, but I wonder if this administration realizes that yrs later Americans still have a def. opinion about bailouts, and for some it is not in a positive way.