Ford's liability for pensions is something like $43Bn and it has something like $37Bn in pension plan assets. That was as of end 2008, assuming they didn't bail out of their investments the plan liabilities and assets might be more or less matched now. Ford's liability for retiree medical is something like $17Bn owed to the VEBA trust, half of which Ford can pay in stock if it chooses. Ford's annual pension expense is roughly $1Bn. Ford's annual revenue (in 2008, not a banner year) was about $145Bn. So, looking at the relative size of these numbers, Ford doesn't seem to be saddled with unmanageable pension or medical obligations. If they make good cars that sell well and keep direct costs under control, Ford can make a heck of a lot of money. Well, the US auto market also needs to be better than 10MM units. Which it will be. Replacement rate is roughly 14MM.
Of course, it would be even better if Ford could jettison all of it's pension and medical liabilities, and dump those old people on Social Security and Medicare. I'd buy more stock. It's all about corporate profits, baby.
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Shedding the UAW would make GM and Chrysler competitive (assuming they don't ressurect the ghosts of idiot managers past - like from the 1970s). Without that, I doubt either company is really going to survive long-term. It's just prolonging the agony. FWIW I think eventually Ford will succumb to the realities of being undercut at every turn too. They've done a lot of things up to now, but eventually they too will be crushed by their staggering pension obligations. They're on borrowed time.
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