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EDITOR:
Point to ponder: If the Middle Class is destroyed, who will buy the products that bring profits to small and large businesses?
Shades of Henry Ford who, in 1914, said he wanted to pay his employees well because they deserved to share in the profits of Ford Motors (and so they could afford to buy his cars).
Today there seems to be a race to the bottom to reduce labor costs to slave levels. Unions must be destroyed so businesses can have free rein to pay absolute minimum wage. And, now we even begin to hear calls to abolish minimum wage laws so wages can be further reduced.
Doesn’t it seem self-evident that a slave has no buying power which will harm the national economy and bring harm to all of us?
Henry, Henry, where are you when we need you?
JAMES E. LONGHOFER
Placerville
The Mountain Democrat does not necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy
R.J. "Cowboy" CarterJune 25, 2012 - 6:32 pm
OK J.E. I'll start the ball rolling, if no one else will...Yes, Henry Ford was one of the all time great members of the democrat party....He ran for Senate once, and after being promised backing and support from Adolf Hitler he almost ran for President ....Ford and Hitler became very close friends early on since Ford was a very outspoken anti-Semite and a huge donor to the Nazi party....For his hatred of Jews, Ford was even mentioned in very high regard in Hitler's autobiography Mein Kampf....Hitler also awarded Ford Germany's highest decoration for foreigners, the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, in July 1938, just after Hitler abolished all the unions in German, go figure.....No offense, but I guess one could say Henry Ford was also a rather divisive person with creepy friends, not unlike the guy sitting in our White House today.....Just keep'in it real J.E.... http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Corporations/Ford_Fuhrer.html
Ken SteersJune 25, 2012 - 8:30 pm
Yes historically many racist ant-Semite fascist in the Democrat party. I too long for manufacturing jobs back here today. California had lost 860,000 manufacturing jobs these past 6 years alone. I wonder if it is time to have a open boarder policy with Canada and Mexico mirroring the EURO. After all we have to try something if we are going to be able to pay for all those unfunded government worker retirements.
James E.June 25, 2012 - 8:54 pm
R.J., I don't think Henry loved Hitler or Hitler loved Henry in 1914. I bet when Henry raised his workers to a living wage (so they could buy his cars), he had no idea Hitler existed. Given that Henry/Hitler are irrelevant to my point, perhaps you could now comment on whether it's a good idea for the Middle Class to go to minimum wage and below, as consumer spending is what? -- around 70% of our economy? Minimal money = minimal spending = we all go down the tubes. Why does it always have to be viewed as a Democrat/Republican whizzing match. I would think all Americans would want a vibrant economy.
James E.June 26, 2012 - 9:14 am
R.J.??
R.J. "Cowboy" CarterJune 26, 2012 - 10:25 am
J.E...I'm here....My only laptop crashed yesterday, must to take it in, so, my on-line time and replies will be very few and very far between...Probably wont be back online till next week sometime....Anyway,..Yes J.E. that pipe dream of a vibrant economy is a wonderful thing, but until things turn around, whats best for America is the reality that any job is better than no job, any income is better than suckling off the government ....Sadly, due to our sour economy many collage grads are delivering pizzas and many American family's are forced to get back to the very basics of life to survive ....Do you have a better plan??......I'll always remember growing up in South Sacramento, getting home from school and playing in the street till dark with friends of all backgrounds and races...Barely saw my parents during the week since both worked long hours just to keep the family afloat...Friday was party night, my mother would always buy some candy, make popcorn along with her homemade pizza...Afterwards, my father would adjourn to the back room where he would begin warming up our old TV so we could all settle in and watch Lassie....Summer Saturdays' meant backyard BBQ's up and down our street with the ballgame on every radio...Of course Sunday was church, then the week began all over again....My long-winded point is, as nice as all that sounds we, along with everyone else in our neighborhood, were dirt poor, just struggling to become middle class someday.....Back then no one ever categorized each other according to their tax brackets like they do today, we were all just Americans trying our best to get by.....We all worked, no one felt entitled, very few were on welfare, and when it came to America we were all still were able to take pride in ownership.....Fact is, there was a lot worse things in life than making minimum wage and we all somehow got through those tough times....But, your right J.L. the economy is too important and the last thing it should turn into is a Democrat/Republican whizzing match.... I guess it's not important who unzipped first, but, let me ask you this; Do you think it might bother those struggling to keep their dirt-poor and middle-class status families afloat knowing that in the last 3.5 years Obama has played over 100 rounds of golf???...Blame Bush, blame congress, blame the tea-party, but I'm reminded how Nero fiddled while Rome burned...
James E.June 26, 2012 - 12:15 pm
R.J., glad we can converse without getting all heated up. As for President Obama playing golf (cannot remember, but seems we have had other excessive golfing presidents in our past -- Eisenhower, Bush II, to name a couple). Plus, President Obama sent his proposed Jobs Bill to Congress last year -- dead silence, so why not golf while he waits, waits, waits. Additionally, it's said that the job creators create jobs, so why are we blaming the President? Where are the job creators? Well, they won't be creating jobs until there is demand. And, there is minimal demand because the Middle Class is being slowly strangled. I'm doing my part this past year in pumping money into the Middle Class, but I cannot pump enough to turn the economy around. Let me leave you with this thought: We must elect Democrats so we can live like Republicans. P.S. Were I president during these hard economic times, I wouldn't be going on ANY vacations. Sends the wrong message.
Dink LaneJune 26, 2012 - 12:26 pm
It should be required reading for everyone (especially politicians) to review correspondence between Thomas Jefferson & John Adams. They talked about the DANGERS if the 'Aristocrats' got control or could manipulate the government.......... Then everyone should read "The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire." .... I just re-read the last two chapters last night...... The separation of people by wealth and power from the ruling people...... They lost everything because the country was NO longer working TOGETHER ..... Can anyone say people TODAY have the same opportunities that James and I had in the 60s and 70s?...... Do we want things to get worse??? or do we want the USA to be what it was then??? Isn't that the TRUE meaning of 'Conservatism'? Conserving what we had???
DisillusionedJune 26, 2012 - 2:08 pm
Doesn't matter if Obama plays golf 24/7. He's only a puppet anyway. Does anyone here really believe the president runs the country?
kggJune 28, 2012 - 7:02 pm
1. Please give the exact quotation from Mein Kampf that mentions Henry Ford. 2. Mein Kampf was published in the 1920's when Ford was one of the most powerful men in the world and Hitler was a political hack. Do you really believe that Henry Ford and Adolph Hitler were chums then? 3. Henry Ford was the same kind of Democrat that the politicans were who defected to the Republican Party in the 1960's. Their reason for leaving the Democratic Party was the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 4. 100 rounds of golf in 3.5 years averages to 1 game every 12 days. For shame President Obama, how terrible that you are getting physical exercise. (:
from: wikipediaJune 28, 2012 - 8:26 pm
kgg: "Several themes from the Dearborn Independent articles appear in Mein Kampf. Hitler even quoted the Dearborn Independent in Mein Kampf and Henry Ford was the only American that Hitler specifically named: "Every year they manage to become increasingly the controlling masters of the labor power of a people of 120,000,000 souls; one great man, Ford, to their exasperation still holds out independently there even now." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dearborn_Independent
James E.June 28, 2012 - 11:44 pm
Don't use Wikipedia as a source. Instead, please give us the exact pages in Mein Kamph which refer to Henry Ford.
not wiki 4 jamesJune 29, 2012 - 10:03 am
pg 639: Hitler, Adolf. Mein Kampf (Translated by Ralph Manheim). Houghton Mifflin Co, New York, 1939
Arnold LangeJune 29, 2012 - 10:24 am
Yes hitler like Ford. Why? because Ford was an anti-semite who expressed it in the Dearborn Independent(owned by Ford). That, of course, is irrelevent. But as James pointed out, Ole Henry paid his employees a decent wage knowing that there is no point in mass producing cars when there are no buyers. The middle class is the economic driver of our economy, not corporations, not the 1% and not the poor. Putting more disposable income in the pockets of the middle class is the catalyst that will grow our economy.
Ken SteersJune 29, 2012 - 1:14 pm
The Progressive anti-Semite Hitler loving Henry Ford was also "gulp" a 1%'er. He is a prime example of trickle down economics, for as you say it was he, not a union who set the wages for his employees. That and started the 2nd industrial revolution of mass production. Other prominent anti-Semite, pro-Hitler, eugenic loving progressives from the era you may ask? Joseph Kennedy, JFK's daddy, Charles Lindbergh and Walt Disney. As I've said many times, the racist Progressives scare the hell out of me.
prime timeJune 29, 2012 - 2:16 pm
Ford and GM Scrutinized for Alleged Nazi Collaboration