| Ford has been better run than the other Detroit car makers for a while. Mulally has made good decisions, and decisions have consequences - it really is that simple. Ford cut production sooner and more aggressively when it became clear that economic conditions meant that the inflated unit volumes were unsustainable. They have focused more on core product lines (relatively speaking of course), gotten rid of non-core assets (e.g. Jaguar), and resisted the urge to try to be everything to everyone. They've pushed forward with product development (their way of cutting back to deal with the economy was to cut production, not to cut development - which is the lifeblood of future profitability). Additionally, Mulally was smart enough (or some might say lucky enough) to secure a lot of cash before the credit markets seized up - so Ford was in a better position to make it through the tough times.
All of that said, Ford is at a significant competitive disadvantage to GM and Chrysler, as it wasn't able to 'cheat' its debt-holders like they did, and shed a lot of liabilities through the (quasi) bankruptcy process. So, although Ford has been able to get some voluntary concessions, it still has a significant amount of debt on its balance sheets.
With regard to the Union issue - it is hard for me to refrain from referring to those people who voted against the new contract as despicable. That's because, well, voting against it was despicable. What a bunch of ungrateful, spoiled, unrealistic, exploitive <insert plural derisive noun here>. By Gettlefinger's own admission, the deal that was negotiated with Ford, to the extent that it differed from the GM and Chrysler deals, was even better than those deals. And, those deals were absolute cherries for the UAW. This is the problem, the U.S. government used its full power to make sure that the UAW was taken care of, beyond any reasonable measure, in the GM and Chrysler situations, and that has served to empower them.
Every last one of them should be thrown out on their asses, and left to look for an $8 / hour job at the local 7-11. There are tons of Americans who are just as competent, who would be willing to work just as hard if not harder, and who would do it at a drastic compensation cut from what most of the UAW workers are getting. They should consider themselves very, very lucky - especially given the general economic situation.
Let me say this - I traded Ford stock around the bailout conversation, because I saw them as the safer bet. As it turns out, I was right. I've held on to a little bit of that stock since - as it is essentially free to me at this point. I would gladly lose all of the value I have in that stock if Ford would tell the Union to shove it - close the entire operation up and say call me when you guys are willing to be reasonable. If that meant that the company was lost, and the value of the stock went to $0, I could live with that. It would be worth it in order to be able to stop rewarding the kind of behavior we've seen on the part of the UAW. How they can reject this deal, which would have continued to compensate them at an inflated rate, when so many Americans would love to have any job, is beyond me. If they think they can do better elsewhere, then by all means, they should make it so. | 
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