Ford shareholders grateful and grumbling

WILMINGTON, Del., May 14 (UPI) -- Ford Motor Co. shareholders in Delaware Thursday called for more executive pay disclosures, but praised executives for avoiding federal bailout funds.

"I applaud what you and Mr. Mulally have done in not being a TARP company," said Joe Baker of Southaven, Miss., addressing Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. and referring to the Ford's Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally at the company's annual shareholder meeting.

Mulally said the company had "sufficient liquidity to make it through this global downturn," The Detroit News reported.

Another shareholder grumbled, "we are not seeing bottom line profits," the Detroit Free Press said.

"At last year's meeting, talk was of profitability in 2009. Now, there is talk of profitability in 2011," William Thrower, of Katy, Texas, said.

Rev. Jesse Jackson also addressed shareholders, calling for policies to prevent the contraction of the nation's manufacturing sector.

"Our industrialization policy must be comprehensive, not a subsidy to speed up the closure of plants and taking away of jobs," Jackson said to reporters.