I once owned a Ford — a second-hand Ford Pinto — but that has no bearing, really, on my political issues with Henry Ford. He had gone to heaven well before I made that purchase.
At least, I assume he went to heaven. It’s entirely possible he went to the other place.
Or that his ghost is still with us?
I hadn’t known about Henry Ford’s political leanings at that point, when I bought the Pinto. I’ve only learned about them recently. And I’m glad now, that I sold the car when I did. (I now own a Subaru. Maybe someday, I will regret that as well.)
Mr. Ford was not only a mechanical genius and inventor, he also brought about dramatic innovations in the way American manufacturing produced its consumer goods, beginning with assembly-line production and the 40-hour, 5-day work week, and — as a result of giving his workers the entire weekend off — the expression TGIF.
In 1914, he astonished the world by offering a $5 daily wage, which more than doubled the rate of most of his workers. The move proved extremely profitable; instead of constant employee turnover, the best mechanics in Detroit flocked to Ford, bringing their human capital and expertise, raising productivity, and lowering training costs.
Pagosa Springs could learn a lesson from that little incident.
He also did some weird stuff, like creating a company-funded “Social Department” with 50 investigators and support staff to surveil employees at home to make sure they were meeting Henry Ford’s standards of social behavior.
Nevertheless, his company grew into one of the Big Three automobile manufacturing companies. Apparently, you don’t mind being spied on, if you’re earning $5 a day.
I’m thinking about the ghost of Henry Ford for a number of reasons. First of all, he believed in reincarnation. Two, he became one of the richest men in the world. Three, he hated labor unions. Four, he became involved in politics, which had a negative effect on his company’s automobile sales. Five, he bought up a Michigan newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, and began publishing antisemitic editorials.
Those five things have a direct bearing on my abiding interest in reincarnation.
Some Daily Post readers may have heard about a recent interview between Elon Musk and Donald Trump, which streamed (not entirely successfully) over the internet.
First of all, Elon Musk is one of the richest people in the world. He’s a brilliant engineer who created one of the most successful automobile companies in the world, and has instituted numerous innovative manufacturing techniques. He hates labor unions. Lately, he’s become involved in politics, which has had a negative effect on his company’s automobile sales. Instead of buying up a newspaper, he bought up a social media platform.
As I said, I have an abiding interest in reincarnation. Which doesn’t necessarily mean I believe in it. But I’m open to hearing both sides of the argument.
If you research Elon Musk online, you can find numerous websites claiming that he’s the reincarnation of Thomas Edison. That makes absolutely no sense at all. Thomas Edison invented light bulbs, not cars.
A smaller number of websites claim that Elon Musk is the reincarnation of Nikola Tesla, which seems a bit more likely, considering that Mr. Musk named his car company, Tesla Motors.
But I’m sticking with the reincarnation of Henry Ford.
One of the political groups most fond of Henry Ford were the German Nazis, thanks to Ford’s four-volume antisemitic treatise, The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem, which was practically required reading during the Third Reich. Henry Ford is the only American mentioned favorably in Adolf Hitler’s autobiography, Mein Kampf.
And now we are hearing that Russian oligarchs connected with Vladimir Putin have been investing in Elon Musk’s social media platform, X.
They say “history repeats itself”. But not exactly. More like, “history gets reincarnated.”
In closing, we can consider a short message posted by Elon Musk on his X account in May 2022.
Thank you for the blessing, but I’m ok with going to hell, if that is indeed my destination, since the vast majority of all humans ever born will be there.
Amen.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.