Back in the early 1970′s the government effectively nationalized local privately owned bus companies when they created regional transit authorities (rta) to take them over. It was done in a way to make it appear that local government had local control, but that was and is a facade.

Truth is, the union was given control under a provision referred to as 13-C which gave the unions tacit veto power over federal funds.

Further, labor contracts were written so that any attempt at layoff or reduction in force of union members required that they continued to be paid by the rta whether they worked or not. (think auto company Job Bank?)

This gave the unions control over whether or not work could be subcontracted out to private companies. In other words, once hired, never fired.

Ronald Reagan attempted to work around this with an executive order requiring that rta’s contract with private operaters on all new expanded business.

In the 1980′s this caused many rta’s to contract with private taxicab companies when ADA requirements began to cause the creation of comparable service (door to door) for the disabled who might otherwise have rode the aforementioned government run fixed route bus service.

Bill Clinton rescinded Ronald Reagan’s executive order when he first took office as President, giving full control back to the unions.

While the government “purchased” failing private bus companies who could not offer subsidized fares to their riders, they have lured riders away from privately owned taxicab companies without paying them a cent.

If you want to know what the future has in store for the auto companies, look no further than what happened to passenger transportation over the last 38 years.

Fact of the matter is that if the bus or subway fares were not subsizided by taxpayers who did not ride the service, fares would be much, much higher as they should be in a free market economy.

I feel sorry for Ford as they try to remain independent. However, Henry survived interference from the government before and we hope current management can remain just as tough as him.

As far as the unions go, there’s a better way. Simply move the company to a right-to-work state in the South or Southwest.

Then Ford would be on a level playing field with its competition.

- JP

If they try to do it on their own, the entire might of the federal government will be turned on them.

And, well, yes, an earlier bankruptcy filing would have prevented throwing $50B in taxpayer money down a black hole, but then UAW wouldn’t have received favorable treatment over senior creditors, would they?

The Sequoia is nice (my parents owned one for a while), Land Cruiser, Nissan Armada, the new Pilots (mine’s 2006) etc, there are plenty of options for a larger SUV that I need without buying from the Big 2.5.

Too bad for GM, though. My wife drove a Chevy Malibu as a company car for the better part of a year and LOVED it. And she’s a Honda bigot.

(Just picking at you. Glad to see you still post here. Hope it continues for as long as possible.)

It’s the same course Chrysler has taken thus far.

Anywho, congratulations to the UAW for killing the host(s) [mustn’t forget Chrysler] with their parasitical ways. My condolences to the taxpayer who will be keeping the Union well funded into the foreseeable future.