Many market observers and industry analysts seemed genuinely shocked late last month when Ford Motor Co. reported net annual income of $2.7 billion. An American automaker in the black — for 2009? Such an occurrence hardly seemed likely given that it was just over a year ago, in November 2008, that the chief executives of the nation’s Big Three automakers — Chrysler, General Motors Corp. and Ford — were summoned to Capitol Hill to justify their request for a $50 billion lifeline.
[Click here to view the rankings for the 2010 All-America Executive Team]
That request sparked populist anger, coming as it did on the heels of Wall Street’s initial $700 billion bailout, and the anger exploded into outrage when taxpayers learned that the CEOs had flown to Washington in separate private jets to plead for public assistance. The move only seemed...
