I grew up in a "Ford" family. I knew that my family drove Fords years before I was aware whether we were a Republican or Democratic family. In my hometown, it was easy to be divided into two groups. We had to choose which of the two funeral homes our family would use, we were Protestant or Catholic, Republican or Democrat and there were just two choices of cars, Ford and Chevrolet.
My first three automobiles were Fords but then, as a broke young married man living far from my family, I had to make a more economic choice, a Japanese car. My father, a WWII vet who fought in the Pacific theater, simply couldn't believe that I had not only left the Ford family but had even bought a foreign-made car.
As the decades have rolled past, the threat of imported cars has loomed larger and more complicated in a global economy in which it is often difficult to tell how much of any particular brand of auto is made in the U.S. or in Europe, Mexico, Japan, or even Vietnam. What is certain is that American-based automobile companies have been becoming less and less competitive. Don't blame the work force; they have been increasingly productive. There is blame to be laid at the feet of stubborn management, which never seems to want to make the kind of car that the world needs at any given moment, but the biggest reason is the one we must solve now. The Bush administration's unwillingness to stand up to the insurance and health industry has, as comedian Jon Stewart observed, moved Bush from being the worst president in American history into the possibility of being America's last president!
Ford Motor Company is standing on the brink of bankruptcy and investors are now praying for yet another Washington bailout. And maybe a bailout is what needs to happen, but this time I hope that the bailout will go to the root of the problem. American cars cost too much because a large part of the sticker price of every new car goes to pay for the health care benefits of the retired auto-industry workers. In other countries, where there is universal health care, the company does not bear the weight of that expense. Our autos have to compete in price with cars that are being essentially subsidized by our competitors' governments. Add to that equation the fact that Ford and GM have been around for so long and you realize that newer foreign manufacturers have an entirely unfair advantage.
Scream "buy American" all you want, but when families are barely able to make ends meet, they will have to buy the best car they can buy for their money and that is almost never going to be a Ford or GM product until we face the inevitable fact that our failure to move toward universal health care is killing our economy.
If our federal government feels compelled to bail out Ford, and inevitably they will be forced to take the same action on behalf of GM, let it be in the form of assuming the health insurance risk both companies now carry. Our government has no business buying automakers' stock to prop up failing manufacturers but "we the people" do have an interest in the health and safety of our citizens. We need to get our heads out of the sand and do for heath care in America what every other developed country is already doing and what we, in fact, have done to establish health care delivery in Iraq.
Ford cannot wait for an Obama administration to be inaugurated. Help must come faster than that. If the Bush administration could see that universal health care was crucial to get the economy in Iraq going again, surely they can see that the same must happen here! Take on the health care of Ford's and GM's retired and current work force and then just sit back and watch their stock soar!
Dr. Roger Ray is the pastor of the Community Christian Church. The opinions expressed here are his own and not necessarily those of the Community Christian Church. He may be contacted at RevDrRay@aol.com
