When a U.S. car company is profitable, it's considered breaking news in 2010. I got "Breaking News" alerts from all the major outlets because Ford is making money again:
The Ford Motor Company earned $2.7 billion in 2009 and said Thursday that it now expected to be profitable in 2010 as well.Ford was the only U.S. auto maker that didn't get a bailout. But, the government (meaning taxpayers) did save the auto industry (including Ford)::
The profit for 2009, equal to 86 cents a share, was a swing of $17.5 billion from 2008, when the company lost $14.8 billion. It is Ford’s first full-year profit since 2005.
The company ended 2009 with $25.5 billion in cash reserves, nearly twice the $13.4 billion it had at the start of the year.
To be sure, the industry's modest progress has come at a large cost to taxpayers. Fitch, the credit-rating service, estimates total direct and indirect government assistance to the U.S.-based manufacturers during the recession at a staggering $125 billion. That includes the cost of capital injections for GM, Chrysler and their respective financial arms, as well as Cash for Clunkers, supplier guarantees, Energy Department loans (which Ford also has tapped) and aid from other governments such as Canada.Looks like our investment is paying off, in the short term anyway.
