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Ford (NYSE: F) does not want to miss its financial targets, no matter what. The car maker's recovery is now backed by the hope that current negotiations with the UAW will go well. The talks may lead to a new benefit pool, funded by the Big Three and run by the union. This would take billions of dollars in employee liabilities off Ford's balance sheet.

But, Ford faces a growing economic headwind. With home prices falling, consumer credit debt rising, and oil above $81, the old US auto firm may not get enough financial traction from UAW concessions. As one Ford senior executive put it to The Wall Street Journal [subscription required] "If we see weakness on the revenue side, we have to take up the slack on the cost side."

But at a company that has already slashed tens of thousands of jobs and closed plants, where are the extra cuts? Ford believes that its market share in the US will level out at about 13% and it has to "right size" its costs to make money at that sales level.

Ford can't articulate where another set of cuts might come from because there may not be much left to cut. It has already squeezed suppliers. A number of the largest auto parts companies are already in Chapter 11. It has laid off a large number of its white collar workers. If it could have taken out more, Wall Street would expect that would have happened.

There simply may not be much more left to cut at Ford, And, if a recession comes that could become a very big problem.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 247wallst.com.

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