Ford Submits New Bailout Plan, Will Make Concessions

Alan Stewart Carl, a moderate blogger, writes about Ford's plans to pay its CEO $1 per year, cancel management bonuses, and sell its corporate aircraft if it takes a government bailout: "It’s a start. Of course, Ford is not in as bad a shape as GM. The company believes it will break even by 2011 and is only seeking $9 billion in government loans, a credit line Ford may not have to use. The company has enough cash to continue its operations through next year. I think it’s pretty clear that the bailout backlash helped spur Ford into making concessions and toning down the 'sky is falling' rhetoric. We’ll see if Chrysler and GM follow suit. Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail in both the automaker boardrooms and the Congressional committee rooms. We’re already moving past the blank-slate bailout approach. But the burden is still on the automakers to demonstrate why government assistance is the only remedy and how such assistance will be used not just to kick the problem down the road but to actually revive the companies."