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Clem's Chronicles: Ford Motor's surprising profit/Afghan elex/US 2009 elections

November 02, 2009 9:29 PM

Tomorrow is Election Day 2009 for many. Don't forget to vote!

FORD MOTOR COMPANY ANNOUNCES PROFIT-It’s been a while, four years in fact since Ford’s North American car and truck division turned a profit. Well in 2009, the 3rd quarter’s the charm. Ford Motor Company announced a 3rd quarter profit of nearly $1 billion, and for a change its’ signature North American line provided a nice chunk of it. Surprised? You should be.Chris Bury, reporting from Detroit for WORLD NEWS, noted that “Ford’s billion-dollar profit and upbeat forecast surprised everyone.  Those who buy cars…sell them…and make them.” That North American car & truck division? $357 million in pre-tax profit. Ford cited higher pricing, lower material costs and increased market share for the improvement. Oh and maybe some help from that “cash for clunkers” program? Mark Fields, Ford Executive Vice-President, told Bury “Well certainly cash for clunkers did a lot of good things. It stimulated the economy. It was good for consumers, it got a lot of guzzlers off the road, so it helped.” But the increase in market share-that may have more to do with consumer perception that it’s a company where “quality counts” Bury notes that in the latest quality rankings, 90% of Ford’s models scored ‘above average’ or better, easily beating G.M. and leaving Chrysler in the dust.” Also helping them turn the corner? Bury: “Some dealers believe Ford’s decision not to take billions in government loans, as GM and Chrysler did, convinced consumers it would survive.” Ford’s turnaround has not gone unnoticed by their workers either and it does pose problems as the company looks to continue to cut costs. The UAW said that 70 percent of production workers and 75 percent of skilled trade workers voted to reject a proposed agreement the union leadership and Ford negotiated in October to change the 2007 four-year contract. The deal would have brought Ford’s labor costs in line with GM and Chrysler, but Ford’s better balance sheet makes it a tougher sell. The big X factor in the near-term is what sort of “recovery” the automotive sector might experience as the economy rebounds. It’s clear though that Ford seems better positioned than its’ American counterparts to take advantage of any upticks the sector might provide.

THE OTHER TWO-So how’s our little $81 billion investment doing in GM and Chrysler, Matt Jaffe? Jaffe: “In a new report released Monday afternoon, the Government Accountability Office stated, ‘Treasury is unlikely to recover the entirety of its investment in Chrysler or GM, given that the companies’ values would have to grow substantially above what they have been in the past.’
Since December 2008, Treasury has invested $81.1 billion in the two automakers, more than 12 percent of the total funds available from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. The government now has a 60 percent equity stake in the new GM and a 9.85 percent stake in the new Chrysler.
At the present time, the GAO noted, ‘The companies still struggle to remain competitive with other automakers and to regain market share.’
Treasury officials told the watchdog that they will consider all options for selling the government’s ownership stakes in the two automakers, but officials did say that the most likely plan to dispose of the GM stake is through a series of public offerings, while the most likely option for the Chrysler stake is a private sale.
The time frame for the government to give up its stake in the automakers remains unclear. In the past, Treasury officials have said that a public offering for GM could occur sometime in 2010, but two independent experts told the GAO that GM might not be ready for a successful IPO by 2010 because the company may not have demonstrated sufficient progress to generate investor interest by then.”

AFGHANISTAN/RUN-OFF OFF, KARZAI THE “ELECTED” PRESIDENT OF AFGHANISTAN…WHAT?-Not exactly according to Hoyle this one. As Jim Sciutto noted tonight from Kabul for WORLD NEWS, “the (Afghan) election cost $300 million, took tens of thousands of troops to secure, and left dozens dead. But today it ended without a final vote.” But not without a winner-today the chairman of the Independent Election Commission announced that “We declare Mr. Karzai the elected president of Afghanistan.”
Challenger Abdullah Abdullah’s announcement over the weekend that he was dropping out of the race made the run-off election almost pointless. Sciutto notes that “Many Afghan and Western officials had grown uneasy with Saturday’s run-off vote, wondering ‘why risk Taliban attacks against an election with only one candidate?”
U.S reaction? President Obama noted that “although the process was messy, I’m pleased to say that the final outcome was determined in accordance with Afghan law.” Charles Gibson asked White House correspondent Jake Tapper “The President says he’s pleased. Are they really?” Tapper noted “they’re pleased that it’s over and they’re pleased that it didn’t devolve into a constitutional crisis. As for President Obama’s feelings about Hamid Karzai, he made it clear in a phone call from the Oval Office…Karzai needs to clean up his act when it comes to anti-corruption efforts and good governance.” Tapper also noted what was not said by President Obama in his comments on the Afghan election outcome: “He said that the process was legitimate, the process was fair, but they did not call him credible. They want him to earn his credibility.” Gibson also asked about the US decision on Afghanistan policy moving forward-will this election affect his decision in any way? Tapper noted that the US government “were very disappointed with how the Karzai government has behaved in the months as seen through the election process. The strategy that President Obama ultimately will decide upon, and he has not yet decided, will likely have more of an emphasis on the regional and provincial governments than the Federal government. You’re also likely to see demands for assessment of progress in good governance and anti-corruption, perhaps even benchmarks.”
The real winner of this election may have been a third party that wasn’t on anybody’s ballot. Peter Galbraith, a former UN official fired for protesting election fraud, told Sciutto that “the real winner of this election is the Taliban because this election has undermined Afghan confidence in democracy.” Maybe so, but the Afghans that Sciutto talked to tonight aren’t reading through any political tea leaves for insight: “Tonight, Afghans we spoke with are frustrated with an election and a Karzai government they see as corrupt…but worry most whether their leaders can keep them safe.”
 
ELECTION DAY 2009:  Republicans and Democrats pulled out all the stops today in a last-ditch effort to garner support for their candidates before tomorrow’s elections.  Vice President Joe Biden took to the campaign trail, spending the day in Watertown, NY to encourage moderate Republicans to vote for Bill Owens, the Democratic candidate in the tight 23rd Congressional District race.  Owens and conservative 3rd party candidate Douglas Hoffman are competing for Republican votes after the GOP’s hand-picked candidate, Dede Scozzafava, dropped out of the race over the weekend and threw her support behind Owens.  “The Republican National Committee is now backing Hoffman…and polls show he may be able to ride the wave of conservative dissent to victory,” John Berman reported on WORLD NEWS.  The race for the 23rd Congressional District seat isn’t the only one where Democrats and Republicans are in a dead heat – in New Jersey incumbent Governor Jon Corzine and GOP candidate Chris Christie are nearly tied in the polls.  Democrats are struggling in Virginia, where Republican Bob McDonnell is positioned to easily win the gubernatorial election over Democrat Creigh Deeds.  Here’s George Stephanopoulos with analysis on that race:  “Bob McDonnell is beating Deeds pretty handily.  Right now history is on his side.  The out party almost always wins in Virginia the year after a Presidential election.  McDonnell’s run a much better campaign than Deeds, he’s focused on the issue of jobs and the economy, but some people will look at this and still take away the idea that a state that the President won last year could not elect a Democrat this year.”  Other significant elections tomorrow include the New York City, Atlanta and Houston mayoral races and the election in Maine, where voters will decide whether to repeal a law allowing gay marriage.  The Justice Department announced it will monitor election activities in selected cities in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Michigan and Pennsylvania to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other federal voting rights statutes.” (thanks to Marisa Bramwell for this entry)

STILL WAITING!/THE SENATE AND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS-Zach Wolf noted why the Senate was taking so long on unemployment benefits in a missive last Tuesday (Republicans want to vote on some amendments unrelated to unemployment. The Democrats don’t.) One week later and we’re still not there. As for if and when, Wolf noted tonight “There is no doubt this bill will pass. It’s just a matter of when. Republicans could insist on 30 hours of debate on this amendment post-cloture. Then Democrats would have to file cloture on the full bill, wait a day, have a final cloture vote, wait another 30 hours and vote on the bill. That’s 60 hours and one day away.”

SWINE FLU SAFETY:  Independent health advisors started monitoring the safety of the swine flu vaccine today as part of the government’s efforts to keep track of potentially dangerous side effects. “Dr. Bruce Gellin is the government’s point man on vaccines, and says of the millions who have received the vaccine so far – there have been only 302 reported side effects,” Lisa Stark reported on WORLD NEWS.  Stark also tells us “the government’s massive surveillance effort involves cross checking lists of those who have received the vaccine with any later reports of health problems.  Data will come from health records from the Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, the Indian Health Service, Medicare and even from private health care plans covering 20 million Americans.  Doctors and the publican can also report any side effects to an existing government vaccine database.”
Also today, health officials announced that trials of the vaccine in pregnant women have shown that one dose of the vaccine is effective protection, and no safety concerns have arisen.  Trials showed that children ages 6 months to 9 years old need two doses of the H1N1 vaccine to be protected. 
On Tuesday the CDC will have a briefing on the H1N1.  (thanks to Marisa Bramwell for this entry)

OTHER STUFF-
--HO HO HO! AIRLINES DOUBLE DOWN FOR HOLIDAY SURCHARGES- Several of the largest U.S. airlines have increased a surcharge for travel on the busiest travel days to $20 each way, up from $10. The surcharges apply to a large number of flights within the U.S. on more than a dozen peak days around holidays including Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. (Susan Caraher/AP)

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