It's that time of quarter - when the whales of investing have to reveal what they are doing on the long side to the SEC (they can still keep secret their shorts).  There are a lot of websites that will be looking at these disclosures in the next 48 hours so we'll just focus on a few.  When I did some "Googling" on George Soros last night I was taken aback how controversial a figure this guy is; there are more stories about his politics than investing.   I could care less about his politics, he is a smart guy who uhhh... admittedly plays the gray side of the rule book at times, but Goldman Sachs (GS) is worshiped for the same behavior.

The big news with George Soros this quarter is his revelation of a stake in Ford (F).  I've been very torn on this name because it has the benefit of being the only US car maker who did not go through bankruptcy, and actually has a competent CEO (who came from Boeing).  So that already sets them apart from what the other 2 domestics have had the past decade.  The company seems to be getting good will from the American people due to the fact they did not resort to handouts from the taxpayer.  On the other hand, General Motors and Chrysler were able to wrangle some very competitive concessions from the UAW (union) due to their bankruptcy while Ford is now facing a major issue on that front.  Due to their relative success, the union does not want to give the same deal to Ford.

So what we have here is the same issue that has been happening in the airline industry... and a reason why no one can stay profitable for long, and we see bankruptcies year after year.  One of the players in the industry goes bankrupt, gets major concessions, is able to walk away from much of their debt and then re-enters the competitive landscape meaner and leaner.  They can charge lower prices, which in turns causes pressure to all the other airlines.  Hence that tends to push other airlines into bankruptcy and the whole cycle keeps repeating.  As I assess Ford, I wonder... if their cost structure is now higher than GM or Chrysler...