For the third quarter, the Ford Motor Co. reported an after-tax operating loss of $3 billion, leading the company to initiate new cost cuts and production drawbacks as consumers continue to be shut out of tight credit and to eschew new purchases on fears of deepening recession.

During the same time period in 2007 Ford posted a loss of only $24 million, a sharp contrast to the figure reported yesterday that only serves to underscore the severity of the economic crisis in America for the domestic automotive industry.

"We continue to take fast and decisive action implementing our plan and responding to the rapidly changing business environment," said Ford CEO Alan Mulally in statement issued by the company. "We have a strategy that is broad and specific enough to handle the dramatic changes in today's environment.''

An additional 10 percent cut in North American salaried personnel will be part of those changes, as will reductions in capital spending, manufacturing, advertising, information technology, and the reduction of global inventory.

Yesterday day, Mulally and other executives from the Detroit Big Three were in Washington appealing to Senate Majority Leader Henry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for federal assistance, a case that may have been made stronger by the devastating third quarter earnings reports.