I'd like to see some support for the claim: "FORD - built without your tax dollars."
This makes me think otherwise: “We have an historic opportunity to help ensure that the next generation of fuel-efficient cars and trucks are made in America,” President Barack Obama said in a statement on June 23, 2009
announcing the loans to Ford and two others. Energy Secretary Steven Chu added: “By supporting key technologies and sound business plans, we can jumpstart the production of fuel efficient vehicles in America. These investments will come back to our country many times over – by creating new jobs, reducing our dependence on oil, and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.”
No company was a bigger beneficiary of the DOE’s green car funding initiative
than Ford.
It received two-thirds of the $8.8 billion loaned under the department’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program. Congress appropriated $25 billion for that program in late 2008, during the waning days of the Bush Administration, around the same time the auto company CEOs were getting grilled on Capitol Hill.<<<
Automakers' Report Card: Who Still Owes Taxpayers Money? The Answer Might Surprise You - Forbes
Here is another; A Ford TV ad slams competitors for accepting bailout funds, even though the company’s CEO lobbied for the bill. The company — the only one of the Big Three not to receive a bailout — feared a collapse of GM and Chrysler at the time would have hurt suppliers and, in turn, Ford itself. Ford Chief Executive Officer Alan R. Mulally also asked Congress for a “credit line” of up to $9 billion in case the economy worsened.
In other words, Ford was for government bailouts before it was against them.
Although Ford did not need money from the $80 billion bailout program, Ford did receive $5.9 billion in government loans in 2009 to retool its manufacturing plants to produce more fuel-efficient cars, and the company lobbied for and benefited from the cash-for-clunkers program — contrary to the ad’s testimonial that Ford is “standing on their own.”<<<
Ford Motor Co. Does U-turn on Bailouts
And another: "Set up in 2008, the CPFF helped companies obtain high-interest, short-term loans -- known as commerical paper -- during the height of the international credit crunch. Some outlets, such as Fox Business, have referred to the program as the "commercial paper bailout."
Hyde correctly points out that Ford's credit arm registered to sell the federal government around $16 billion in commercial paper. Like the financing wing of most automakers -- Toyota, BMW, GMAC and Chrysler also participated -- Ford found itself in need of liquidity when the lending markets dried up.
But what Hyde (and more glaringly, his headline) incorrectly suggests is that Ford's borrowing was a secret. Spokeswoman Brenda Hines told Bloomberg back in October of 2008 that Ford Credit had applied for the program.
Fellow Ford spokeswoman Christin Baker this week pointed out that Ford reported its participation in the CPFF in its public SEC filings. She also said Ford participated in the Federal Reserve's Term Asset-Backed Security Loan Facility, noting that "these two programs addressed systematic failure in the credit markets, and that neither program was designed for a particular company, or even a particular industry.
"Ford was a fractional participant in both of these credit programs, and the federal government made healthy returns on all of these limited transactions."
Bottom line? Yes, Ford's credit arm participated in a federal program meant to free up short-term lending at a time when very few investors were spending. It's no secret
Did Ford take 'secret government money' while earning praise for avoiding bailout? | MLive.com
Now DP, or anyone else could find as many or more links that say "Ford didn't take bailout money". THAT is not the same as "built without your tax dollars". It sure looks like that claim is unsupportable to me.
.
