Henry Ford, When Capitalists Cared

[Ally Laredo]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/03/opinion/henry-ford-when-capitalists-cared.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Main Idea: “It’s time for America’s business elites to step beyond political rhetoric about protecting wealthy “job creators” and grasp Ford’s insight: Give the middle class a better share of the nation’s economic gains, and the economy will grow faster. Our history shows that.”(paragraph 15)

In my words: Higher wages for the middle class will help boost the economy in a way the wealthy cannot.

Response: I thought this article was interesting in that it used examples from our history. I feel we spend to much time analyzing our current situations and looking for brand new solutions. Perhaps we should take a look at the past to find the answer to today's issues. The author's ideas are sound. They seem to have done all their research and I agree with them. The middle class are the consumers, the engine that runs the economy. If the middle class cannot consume, the entire economy slows down and will eventually grind to a halt. An engine cannot run without fuel. In this case, that fuel is money, wages. I like that the author used Henry Ford as an example. His business tactics are very interesting. Though his Five Dollar Day plan may come off as charitable, if you look closer it is much more than that. He understood that giving his workers higher wages allowed them to buy more. When they bought more, he made more money. It's actually rather devious. That is, though, how the economy works. The only complaint I have about this article, is that it seemed a bit one sided. The author seemed to have a good idea of how they would fix the economy, but never presented an actual plan. I wonder what the author would propose to do to put their ideas into action.