Go Ford. If this keeps up, maybe a U.S. automaker will be able to bail out the U.S. government, instead of the other way around. What a refreshing change of pace that would be.
As CNN points out, Ford was the only domestic automaker not to go through bankruptcy last year. Evidently, it is also the only domestic automaker making vehicles that aren’t complete pieces of crap. Maybe there’s a connection. I call for a blue-ribbon task force to investigate this startling trend.
In the meantime, let’s contrast Ford’s success with that of 17 companies who benefited from federal bailout dough at the height of the financial crisis. Like Ford, companies like Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and J.P. Morgan are doing pretty well — even though they handed out $1.6 billion in excess compensation to their clever executives at a time when there was the very real possibility of a depression. Unlike Ford, none of these companies or executives actually produce anything, except for worried looks.
That’s America: You can succeed if you play by the rules, and you can succeed even more if you don’t. Still, it makes a guy feel like buying a Fiesta.
And what pray tell was wrong with the Maverick? We had a brand-new, sweet red, four-door Maverick that got crunched at both ends in a rear-ender on the fifth day of ownership. Traded that baby in for the infamous 1974 Mustang II. (Now that’s a car Ford should be apologizing for.)
My grandfather owned a Maverick. He also drives with two feet, so.