Reid: Ford alive because of bailouts

One News Now (Link) - Russ Jones (July 27, 2010)

The Ford Motor Company continues to prove that government bailout money is not needed to succeed in these hard economic times. Last week, it reported second-quarter earnings of $2.6 billion dollars -- its fifth straight quarterly profit.

By the end of 2011, Ford expects to move from an automotive net debt position to a net cash flow. That projected turnaround comes without government bailout monies that rivals GM and Chrysler chose to accept.

James Gattuso, senior fellow of regulatory policy at The Heritage Foundation warns, however, not to overinflate what quarterly reports might mean.

�We should be careful not to read too much into the quarter-by-quarter results,� he cautions. �If GM does well, that doesn�t necessarily mean that the subsidies were a success; and if it does badly, it doesn�t necessarily mean that they will continue to go badly. I think that the experience with GM, though, has still shown the dangers of political intervention in the marketplace.�

The Business & Media Institute of the Media Research Center has been tracking Ford�s momentum -- and the media�s apparent choice to ignore it.

�A lot of shows, including CBS Evening News and CNN�s Anderson Cooper [360˚], ignored the fact that Ford had not taken a government bailout,� notes Julia Seymour, assistant editor of the Business & Media Institute.

Seymour also claims many secular media outlets are �bailout-friendly� and are opting not to report how companies might succeed without government intervention. She notes that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) even credited the bailouts for Ford�s continued existence, saying that �if it were up to [Republicans who opposed the bailout], Ford Motor Company would probably be gone.�

The Big Three automakers were on the brink of disaster two years ago. But Ford Credit says it now expects full year 2010 profits to be higher than its 2009 bottom line.