Changes from Big 3

Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford Motor Company, is slated to come to Washington for hearings this week, only this time, he is leaving his jet behind. He plans to drive to Washington in a new Ford Escape hybrid, and a Ford official confirmed that he is prepared to accept $1 a year in pay if Ford should have to use the federal aid.

Despite its precarious state, GM is not expected to provide proprietary information to the congressional committees beyond what is in its plan.

This week’s hearings, beginning Thursday at the Senate Banking Committee and then Friday before the House Financial Services Committee, are pivotal given the political landscape. And even if the leadership opts to press ahead with an aid package, it could become entwined with other demands by states for aid to help with food banks and health care for the poor.

The mixed emotions among Democrats were illustrated again Monday when House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) told reporters in his home state that all of the Big Three CEOs should be ousted as a condition for federal aid.

“If I had my way, all three of those guys would be in the unemployment line, and I think that ought to be one of the conditions for us doing this,” Clyburn said, according to The Associated Press. “We need to have new leadership. That’s what we would do if we had this kind of failure on a football field. We would be getting a new coach — sometimes a new athletic director. We need to clean house with these guys and bring in new people.”

At the same time, the pressure from allies in the United Auto Workers is immense. And while Ford is the strongest of the three, with about $18.9 billion in cash and about $10.7 in additional credit, it would be severely hurt as well if GM, for example, were to go into bankruptcy.

No matter what happens this year, it will carry over into next year, and the "Big 3" will need more money then as well. All of this comes down to one meaning, in my opinion, the "Big 3" maybe not be very big next year, and there might not be three...

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