re: #99 engineer cat

ford actually said in public that the reason he instituted the famous $5 day was that his turnover in his assembly lines was too fast when he paid less, so he lost more on hiring costs than what he saved on wages. it also means that he realized that paying employees more meant better commitment and therefore better work results

he may also have realized that paying his workers more meant they would be more likely to afford a ford car but if he did he was loathe to admit it

Ford was, at his core, a practical guy who wanted to get the most out of whatever he invested. Kingsford charcoal came out of a plan to recycle wood scrap from the auto plant, and he was a big promoter of the adoption of plastics and biofuels into auto production, with legend having it that the Model T was originally designed to run on grain alcohol.

At the same time, the guy was also an authoritarian at heart, such that he actually had a division of the Motor Company dedicated to investigating the lives of his workers and using that information to punish or even fire immoral workers. And he absolutely hated labor unions, which he felt exploited workers to keep their power, and the Ford Motor Company was the last in Detroit to recognize the UAW.