re: #283 HappyWarrior

It’s amazing that even a bigoted bastard like Ford got that but so many 21st century Americans do not.

re: #288 wheat-dogghazi-mailgate

He wanted to sell a car that the common person could buy, and starting with his own workers was a logical move. He also wanted to forestall union action, and thought paying a higher wage would help. He was wrong about that latter idea.

Thing is that Henry Ford didn’t just want to make money, he also wanted to build his company into something enduring and he was able to do that. Doing that meant he needed loyal employees and loyal customers and he was willing to pay to get those. Than sort of mindset can be contrasted with later-day auto company execs whose main concern is often the company’s stock price, not the firm’s actual health and productivity.

Ford’s loving of ‘doing’ and his belief in his own problem solving ability almost certainly shortened his life when he threw himself back into his company after the IJN hit Pearl Harbor. He couldn’t just sit back and let the younger generation work, he felt he had to get involved and push Ford Motor Company to put out as much war material of as high a quality as possible. He succeed in this aim, then died soon after the Second World War ended. But he did get to go out on top, doing something he did far better than most and that he in most ways loved doing.