Carleton Bryant The Washington Times - June 1, 2009, 08:52AM

Ford Motor Co. is readying an effort to boost production and gain market share while its two main rivals are busying themselves with bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal is reporting.

Ford, the only one of the Big Three that didn’t take a federal bailout, plans to increase production in the third quarter by about 10 percent from the level of a year ago, a company official said. It will be Ford’s first significant production increase in almost two years, the Journal is reporting.

SEE RELATED:

Meanwhile, General Motors Corp. is expected to file for Chapter 11 protection Monday, and Chrysler LLC is nearing the end of its bankruptcy reorganization. Both are planning to shut down their plants for nearly all of the third quarter.

So the company that didn’t take federal money is the one that’s faring best.  Hmmm.  Does this mean socialism worked — or failed?

I get the feeling that Ford has been using the “rope-a-dope” strategy on GM and Chrysler.  All three went before Congress, but only two came away with the goods.  Well played, Ford.

It’s kinda like the automakers’ version of Thunderdome: Three companies enter, one company leaves.