When Capitalists Cared

[steve2470]

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

IN the rancorous debate over how to get the sluggish economy moving, we have forgotten the wisdom of Henry Ford. In 1914, not long after the Ford Motor Company came out with the Model T, Ford made the startling announcement that he would pay his workers the unheard-of wage of $5 a day.

Not only was it a matter of social justice, Ford wrote, but paying high wages was also smart business. When wages are low, uncertainty dogs the marketplace and growth is weak. But when pay is high and steady, Ford asserted, business is more secure because workers earn enough to become good customers. They can afford to buy Model Ts.

This is not to suggest that Ford single-handedly created the American middle class. But he was one of the first business leaders to articulate what economists call “the virtuous circle of growth”: well-paid workers generating consumer demand that in turn promotes business expansion and hiring. Other executives bought his logic, and just as important, strong unions fought for rising pay and good benefits in contracts like the 1950 “Treaty of Detroit” between General Motors and the United Auto Workers.

Riding the dynamics of the virtuous circle, America enjoyed its best period of sustained growth in the decades after World War II, from 1945 to 1973, even though income tax rates were far higher than today. It created not only unprecedented middle-class prosperity but also far greater economic equality than today.

[awoke_in_2003]

1. With a growing middle class...

in China and India, they have huge potential customer growth. They couldn't care less about our middle class- they demand more than slave labor pay.

[woofwoof01]

2. You seem to be suggesting that this is radical?

For the entire history of human civilisation as we know it, almost without exception 'usury' (which I'm amazed isn't a common term these days) has been punishable by death or dismemberment.
Only in small pockets of history has it ever been permitted for the simple fact that it's fundamentally at odds with civilisation and leads to a level of resentment that cannot be contained. We, sadly, are living in one of these eras and the window is closing. To me, it's absurd that people dont see this. in every history book, it's there and has been present as a footnote signifying corruption for over 4000 years of writing (and I'm sure would be there for other aeons if the records existed).
Aggressive capitalism (US Style) does not mix with any form of society, especially democracy, and always ends in huge bloodshed regardless of the masquerade offered as the pacifier.

If your brain has triggered a pre-emptive 'socialist' flag its likely that you are no longer human, in which case, open a new window and google for Martians or something, but if not and you honestly doubt my words - before you submit to your own case - ask yourself:
Is democracy:
A: Real people, equally deciding how to be responsible and humane to each other?
B: About legal "structures" leveraging wealth to set the agenda for how you make the above decision?

If your answer is A: spoil your vote, you have no candidate.

[mojowork_n]

3. YES, without a middle class there's little hope for "democracy." n/t