Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
With respect to Henry Ford, so did everybody else. Morals clauses were more common than not in those days. The fact that he was willing to pay $5.00 a day sets him apart from his competitors. Too bad there aren't some kind of morals or ethics clauses in the contracts of today's players. maybe we wouldn't have had fiascos like Enron and K-Mart, and any one of a dozen or so other scandels.
Maybe; but the fact that he was a blatant Anti-Semite and supporter of the American Nazi Party sort of cancels out his good points
I didn't know that. I do think, however, that a person's opinions can be judged separately from what they do. We do not reject some breakthrough in science because we don't like the scientist's ideas. People, in my opinion, were wrong to trash the artistry of Jane Fonda because they hated her opinions of a war.
People can be dopes in one area of life and yet stellar in others. I know, it is hard to separate the two, but many of our foundling fathers had horrible flaws.
99.9% of the time I am proud to be me, and I am an American, so Yes, I am proud to be an American. It is very sad to see all the self haters in America though. The people who absolutely hate America, regardless of who is running the country they try to find something wrong and dwell on that. It is sad, to say the least! There will always be something bad to focus on, happiness is a state of mind and I choose to live in that state! (happiness that is)
There is something to be said for a bliss borne of a mind oblivious to the facts. Children have this endearing quality, brought about by their innocence of the world around them.
I am happy to be me, sometimes proud of accomplishmets, but could have been born in any number of countries, and my feelings about myself have little to do with the country of my residence.
You are right. There is always room for improvement, in ourselves and in our country, and in our world. This is what causes progress: questioning things, thinking of better ways, taking things apart, making some things redundant. re-examining old values and ideas, looking about and seeing if someone has thought of a better way.
There was a thought: we are either progressing foward or regressing backwards. There is no standing still in life. Our global standing is either advancing or retreating. Lately, we have been going backwards. Even in our own lives we are told that college graduates get alzheimers less frequently than those who have not. People who stay engaged in life, are willing to change, explore new ways of doing things tend to get alzheimers less frequently. Either you are moving fowards, or backwards.
With respect to Henry Ford, so did everybody else. Morals clauses were more common than not in those days. The fact that he was willing to pay $5.00 a day sets him apart from his competitors.
Yes, it did, being about double the then prevailing wage. Quite a public relations boon for Ford. But this was no "minimum wage" in the modern sense of the term. All of the differential over prevailing rates was conditional on satisfactory corporate profitability, and was payable only in increments and only if strict individual production and performance goals had been met. And then there was the Social Department, just as advanced for its time as was the assembly line. There were more than a thousand spies in the River Rouge plant who filed reports on what was said by the men on the line each day. Workers were "visited" by Ford social workers who provided advice on how they might best live their lives. If they knew what was good for them.
Ford's wage-scale needs to be seen for what it was. It was an effort not to enhance the lives of his workers, but to create a carrot so powerful that he could use virtually any stick of his choosing and still never run short of willing and energetic labor. He routinely fired workers simply for looking old. Sales of hair dye in the area were extraordinary. And when market pressure came, Ford simply cut the wages of all of his workers in half. Then he forbade all talking and whistling on the line.
This was not a humanitarian. This was an exploiter of resources who happened to come up with some very original means for accomplishing exploitation.
8 years certainly isn't a blip in my mind, I don't think it's just a blip for others either. ESPECIALLY considering the crap that we have had to put up w/, not to mention others around the world.
Eight years is a blip in time. And I don't think you even know what "crap" is. When you've lived as long as I have, seen as many Presidents come and go as I have, watched the House and Senate controlled by both Republicans and Democrats and it doesn't make that big a difference, lived through wars, recessions, depressions, etc., then you may realize why I call 8 years a "blip".
There are way too many spoiled Americans who haven't got a clue what real hardship is, who haven't seen what many of us have seen. Many of us have lived through bad times and good times and much of what we're going through now is extremely difficult and very sad.
But we will survive somehow and hopefully we'll be stronger than ever. Our world goes through cycles and somehow we always get through it. Life isn't easy ... never was, never will be.
There is something to be said for a bliss borne of a mind oblivious to the facts. Children have this endearing quality, brought about by their innocence of the world around them.
I am happy to be me, sometimes proud of accomplishmets, but could have been born in any number of countries, and my feelings about myself have little to do with the country of my residence.
You are right. There is always room for improvement, in ourselves and in our country, and in our world. This is what causes progress: questioning things, thinking of better ways, taking things apart, making some things redundant. re-examining old values and ideas, looking about and seeing if someone has thought of a better way.
There was a thought: we are either progressing foward or regressing backwards. There is no standing still in life. Our global standing is either advancing or retreating. Lately, we have been going backwards. Even in our own lives we are told that college graduates get alzheimers less frequently than those who have not. People who stay engaged in life, are willing to change, explore new ways of doing things tend to get alzheimers less frequently. Either you are moving fowards, or backwards.
I am not sure what being happy has to do with getting a higher education. I am a happy person who is currently enrolled in classes working towards a degree. One can be happy and still think there may be a better way.
I am very proud to be an American! I just am sometimes embarrassed by the people, who are also American's, and run around stomping their feet and throwing tantrums like little children. I am not speaking of anyone in this forum, but there are people in this country whose behavior is appalling!
Also, I would not be the person who I am were I raised in some other country. America has given me the freedom to be myself! I have learned in ways and had liberties I would not have had in some other country.
He couldn't have been too anti-semitic; he had a Jewish secretary. He also made the comment that "all history is bunk" and yet he built one of the premier historical museums in the country. Anyone's words can be taken out of context and misconstrued.
We are what we are as the product of our life experiences. I suspect that since Ford Motor Co. was the third automobile company he started, he was naturally very possessive of it and of wanting to prove the naysayers who thought he "wouldn't amount to a hill of beans" wrong. Ford's idiosyncrancies are nothing compared to the likes of Howard Hughes, and yet he is regarded highly as an entrepreneur.
Yes, it did, being about double the then prevailing wage. Quite a public relations boon for Ford. But this was no "minimum wage" in the modern sense of the term. All of the differential over prevailing rates was conditional on satisfactory corporate profitability, and was payable only in increments and only if strict individual production and performance goals had been met. And then there was the Social Department, just as advanced for its time as was the assembly line. There were more than a thousand spies in the River Rouge plant who filed reports on what was said by the men on the line each day. Workers were "visited" by Ford social workers who provided advice on how they might best live their lives. If they knew what was good for them.
Ford's wage-scale needs to be seen for what it was. It was an effort not to enhance the lives of his workers, but to create a carrot so powerful that he could use virtually any stick of his choosing and still never run short of willing and energetic labor. He routinely fired workers simply for looking old. Sales of hair dye in the area were extraordinary. And when market pressure came, Ford simply cut the wages of all of his workers in half. Then he forbade all talking and whistling on the line.
This was not a humanitarian. This was an exploiter of resources who happened to come up with some very original means for accomplishing exploitation.
Wow! I'm glad there are still some laws that protect workers. Ford seems like many corporate head's dream, the way you put it.
Eight years is a blip in time. And I don't think you even know what "crap" is. When you've lived as long as I have, seen as many Presidents come and go as I have, watched the House and Senate controlled by both Republicans and Democrats and it doesn't make that big a difference, lived through wars, recessions, depressions, etc., then you may realize why I call 8 years a "blip".
There are way too many spoiled Americans who haven't got a clue what real hardship is, who haven't seen what many of us have seen. Many of us have lived through bad times and good times and much of what we're going through now is extremely difficult and very sad.
But we will survive somehow and hopefully we'll be stronger than ever. Our world goes through cycles and somehow we always get through it. Life isn't easy ... never was, never will be.
Yeah, but people get angry when things could have been easily predicted, and when our politicians play games with real people and countries, just to test out some junk political theory, and when it backfires they do not take responsibility or suffer the consequences. The people of the country suffer. It is particulary upsetting if you have not elected the guy in office because you can see that he is stupid. It is upsetting because those who did vote for him did not do so because of his intelligence and ability to problem solve, but because he's a 'regular guy' who you could share a beer with. He's a good Chrisitan man. He believes in America.
These qualities may be commendable, but even 'average' people may have them. It takes more than average ability to steer the ship of state. Would a person want an 'average' brain surgeon to operate on them, or the best?
Intelligence is not the only attribute that a President should have, but it should be a minimum standard. At least you know he is starting out with some cards in his deck.
Why cannot only those who voted for this fool be the ones whose lives are set back by his decisions? What could they have been listening to that persuaded them that BushW was a good choice?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
