Tag: Henry Ford
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Reconstructing a bombed country
In previous item I wrote: WPA definitely employed white-collar workers who had been discarded along with the skilled laborers when Wall Street bombed America down to bedrock. Stirred up a thought. The Marshall Plan was based on the New Deal. Marshall was rebuilding and restoring and resettling Europe after the Krauts bombed it down to…
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At least they understood
These old sales training films sometimes (but not always) treated the Conservative Prospect as undesirable and the Step-up Prospect and Luxury Prospect as desirable. Ford tended to hold the Conservative Prospect in slightly higher esteem. But they all recognized that PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT. The companies made DIFFERENT MODELS to qualify the DIFFERENT PROSPECTS. Ford’s three…
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Non-hustly
One longstanding puzzle is why we decided to hate Russia. We started invading and occupying Russia in 1918, gave up during the blessed Lucid Interval, then started again with a vengeance immediately after President Lucid died in 1945. Here’s a clue to our previous attitude, which isn’t exactly warlike but definitely treats Russians as subhuman.…
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If government had NOT been murderous
Last week I wrote what might be the most important thing I ever wrote, and didn’t hit it hard enough. (I’m in a dull futile mood lately.) This item is my best and most crucial answer to the Thiel question: What’s something you know that nobody else agrees with? = = = = = START…
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Misses a stage of history
This is an important insight. I think it misses some history, but it’s basically valid. Thesis: College is our only initiation rite. We lost the earlier religious rites of manhood, and college was offered to replace it. Now that college is fading, we need to return to churches. This replacement is very recent. College has…
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WWHWD?
Listening to these Industry on Parade films reminds me that American industry has always been fanatical about recycling. REAL recycling that reuses waste internally, not the EPA-required FAKE recycling that sends the stuff to China. = = = = = First: Industry has also been willing to do pollution control, but not when it costs…
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Reprint on Ethanol
Linked in previous item about Ford and Edison, worth a reprint. = = = = = START 2016 REPRINT: Cruz is showing some courage in continuing to stand against the ethanol subsidy. His position is correct for many reasons, but not for the reason he cites: “Government shouldn’t pick winners and losers.” Sounds good, but…
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Hank and Tom go fishing
I’ve been trying for years to get a clear picture of Henry Ford. He was massively complicated and entirely simple all at once. He hated FDR and accomplished the same ends as FDR. (I’m pretty sure Frank understood Hank better than Hank understood Frank.) Ford was America’s most effective and benevolent socialist and “civil rights”…
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Not your campaign 2
Fortune mag says the anti-DEI movement has gone mainstream. In all of these cases, ideologues are mischaracterizing the goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Their strategy is working: critiquing DEI has become more mainstream. Increasingly, even people who likely support some of the most common and visible examples of these efforts (parental leave, fair…
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Carver Day
Today is Carver’s birthday. Rehashing what I wrote in 2015. (Edited to reflect my improved understanding of “Soviet subversion”. When I wrote this I was still believing the standard FBI myths about the Soviet system.) = = = = = START EDITED REPRINT: By most calculations, George Carver was born in January 1864 near Joplin.…
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No, it’s not neofeudalism
I’ve made this point before. It’s worth repeating. Everyone is referring to the gig economy as neofeudalism. The personalities are unquestionably feudal, the same insane inbred incestuous imbecilic aristocrats who ruled Europe for 500 years. The system is the exact opposite. Feudalism was based on TWO-WAY OBLIGATIONS. The lord was required to support his serfs…
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Three layers
There are three layers of customers, requiring different business approaches and different levels of risk. Bottom: Poor people. Poor people don’t have money. They can’t buy big items. Selling at this level is hugely risky, and only the biggest and most predatory firms can survive. There are two paths to success at this level: subsidize…
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More Thiel Questions
Thiel Questions are arguments or views that others don’t share. The last time I updated them was more than a year ago. Time to add a few more. I’ve written about each of these before but didn’t treat them as Thiel. = = = = = (1) Standard “history” tells us that we didn’t offshore…
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TVA, part 3 of 4
Some of the TVA house designs were intended for mass production, not local culture. This was called the Demountable house. In modern terms it would be Modular. The basic section was made in a factory and shipped out by railcar for quick non-permanent use. The flat roof wouldn’t have lasted long in rainy and snowy…
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Well, I can build that myself!
More from the REA news in 1940. The New Deal was all about DECENTRALIZING power. Henry Wallace hammered on the theme endlessly, and agencies like WPA and REA and TVA were serious about letting local coops and companies determine their own way of using the federal funding. Every aspect of their structure and rhetoric was…
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