http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. As owner of the Ford Motor Company, he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He is credited with "Fordism": mass production of inexpensive goods coupled with high wages for workers. Ford had a global vision, with consumerism as the key to peace. His intense commitment to systematically lowering costs resulted in many technical and business innovations, including a franchise system that put dealerships throughout most of North America and in major cities on six continents. Ford left most of his vast wealth to the Ford Foundation but arranged for his family to control the company permanently.
He was known worldwide especially in the 1920s as promoter of pacifism, but also as publisher of antisemitic texts like the controversial book The International Jew.
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Model T
The Model T was introduced on October 1, 1908. It had the steering wheel on the left, which every other company soon copied. The entire engine and transmission were enclosed; the four cylinders were cast in a solid block; the suspension used two semi-elliptic springs. The car was very simple to drive, and easy and cheap to repair. It was so cheap at $825 in 1908 ($20,100 today) (the price fell every year) that by the 1920s, a majority of American drivers had learned to drive on the Model T.[13]
Ford created a massive publicity machine in Detroit to ensure every newspaper carried stories and ads about the new product. Ford's network of local dealers made the car ubiquitous in virtually every city in North America. As independent dealers, the franchises grew rich and publicized not just the Ford but the very concept of automobiling; local motor clubs sprang up to help new drivers and to encourage exploring the countryside. Ford was always eager to sell to farmers, who looked on the vehicle as a commercial device to help their business. Sales skyrocketed—several years posted 100% gains on the previous year. Always on the hunt for more efficiency and lower costs, in 1913 Ford introduced the moving assembly belts into his plants, which enabled an enormous increase in production. Although Ford is often credited with the idea, contemporary sources indicate that the concept and its development came from employees Clarence Avery, Peter E. Martin, Charles E. Sorensen, and C. Harold Wills.[14] (See Piquette Plant)
Sales passed 250,000 in 1914. By 1916, as the price dropped to $360 for the basic touring car, sales reached 472,000.[15] (Using the consumer price index, this price was equivalent to $7,020 in 2008 dollars.)
By 1918, half of all cars in America were Model T's. However, it was a monolithic black; as Ford wrote in his autobiography, "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black".[16] Until the development of the assembly line, which mandated black because of its quicker drying time, Model T's were available in other colors, including red. The design was fervently promoted and defended by Ford, and production continued as late as 1927; the final total production was 15,007,034. This record stood for the next 45 years. This record was achieved in just 19 years from the introduction of the first Model T (1908).
President Woodrow Wilson asked Ford to run as a Democrat for the United States Senate from Michigan in 1918. Although the nation was at war, Ford ran as a peace candidate and a strong supporter of the proposed League of Nations.[17]
Henry Ford turned the presidency of Ford Motor Company over to his son Edsel Ford in December 1918. Henry, however, retained final decision authority and sometimes reversed his son. Henry started another company, Henry Ford and Son, and made a show of taking himself and his best employees to the new company; the goal was to scare the remaining holdout stockholders of the Ford Motor Company to sell their stakes to him before they lost most of their value. (He was determined to have full control over strategic decisions.) The ruse worked, and Henry and Edsel purchased all remaining stock from the other investors, thus giving the family sole ownership of the company.[18]
By the mid-1920s, sales of the Model T began to decline due to rising competition. Other auto makers offered payment plans through which consumers could buy their cars, which usually included more modern mechanical features and styling not available with the Model T. Despite urgings from Edsel, Henry steadfastly refused to incorporate new features into the Model T or to form a customer credit plan.[19]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_great_depression
There were multiple causes for the first downturn in 1929. These include the structural weaknesses and specific events that turned it into a major depression and the manner in which the downturn spread from country to country. In relation to the 1929 downturn, historians emphasize structural factors like major bank failures and the stock market crash. In contrast, economists (such as Barry Eichengreen, Milton Friedman and Peter Temin) point to monetary factors such as actions by the US Federal Reserve that contracted the money supply, as well as Britain's decision to return to the Gold Standard at pre–World War I parities (US$4.86:£1).
[...]
Current theories may be broadly classified into two main points of view and several heterodox points of view. First, there are demand-driven theories, most importantly Keynesian economics, but also including those who point to the breakdown of international trade, and Institutional economists who point to underconsumption and over-investment (causing an economic bubble), malfeasance by bankers and industrialists, or incompetence by government officials. The consensus among demand-driven theories is that a large-scale loss of confidence led to a sudden reduction in consumption and investment spending. Once panic and deflation set in, many people believed they could avoid further losses by keeping clear of the markets. Holding money became profitable as prices dropped lower and a given amount of money bought ever more goods, exacerbating the drop in demand.
Secondly, there are the monetarists, who believe that the Great Depression started as an ordinary recession, but that significant policy mistakes by monetary authorities (especially the Federal Reserve), caused a shrinking of the money supply which greatly exacerbated the economic situation, causing a recession to descend into the Great Depression. Related to this explanation are those who point to debt deflation causing those who borrow to owe ever more in real terms.
Lastly, there are various heterodox theories that downplay or reject the explanations of the Keynesians and monetarists. For example, some new classical macroeconomists have argued that various labor market policies imposed at the start caused the length and severity of the Great Depression. The Austrian school of economics focuses on the macroeconomic effects of money supply, and how central banking decisions can lead to over-investment (economic bubble).
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller
Standard Oil began as an Ohio partnership formed by John D. Rockefeller, his brother William Rockefeller, Henry Flagler, Jabez Bostwick, chemist Samuel Andrews, and a silent partner, Stephen V. Harkness. As kerosene and gasoline grew in importance, Rockefeller's wealth soared, and he became the world's richest man and first American worth more than a billion dollars.[2]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_great_depression
Even after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, optimism persisted for some time; John D. Rockefeller said that "These are days when many are discouraged. In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come and gone. Prosperity has always returned and will again."[11]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) [...]
In 1870, he founded the Standard Oil Company and aggressively ran it until he officially retired in 1897.[1] [...]
Rockefeller spent the last 40 years of his life in retirement. His fortune was mainly used to create the modern systematic approach of targeted philanthropy with foundations that had a major effect on medicine, education, and scientific research.[7]
The lives of Rockefeller and Ford... Gasoline, and the car. A bit of perspective.
1839 - JD Rockefeller born
1840 - US population 17,069,453
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850 - US population 23,191,876
1851
1852
1853
1854
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859 - JD Rockefeller opens a produce store
1860 - US population 31,443,321 (almost twice that of when JD Rockefeller was born)
1861 - American Civil War begins
1862
1863 - Henry Ford born (JD Rockefeller is 24), JD Rockefeller builds an oil refinery in Cleveland
1864
1865 - American Civil War ends
1866
1867 - Rockefeller becomes the world's most successful investment banker
1868 - JD Rockefeller's brother builds another oil refinery, JD buys it outright.
1869
1870 - JD Rockefeller creates Standard Oil Company at age 31. US population 38,558,371
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877 - JD Rockefeller begins building oil pipelines to rectify contract disagreements with railroad deliverers.
1878
1879 - Henry Ford leaves home to work as a machinist in Detroit at age 16, JD Rockefeller wins monopoly cases against him from all other major industries.
1880 - JD Rockefeller accused of destroying economic infrastructure to maintain his monopoly. His reply, paraphrased, "Shit happens." US population 49,371,340
1881 - Standard Oil is now the largest bureaucracy on earth, has more money than any government in the world, and shows no signs of slowing growth.
1882 - Henry Ford becomes adept at using "The Westinghouse Portable Steam Engine" on his family farm after returning home due to the extreme recession. The National Petroleum Exchange opens in Manhattan to handle oil futures trades, generating the first commodities speculation trades in history, founded by JD Rockefeller.
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887 - congress begins attempting to regulate Standard Oil, due to its deleterious effects on all other industries, by forming the Interstate Commerce Commission
1888
1889
1890 - the Sherman Anti-Trust Act is put into place to regulate the growing power of Standard Oil, which already rivaled that of the government, producing 85% of the world's crude oil products. US population 62,979,766
1891 - Henry Ford is hired as an engineer for Edison illuminating Company, all of the wealthiest people in the world begin to band together against JD Rockefeller's still-growing influence.
1892 - standard Oil begins to be broken into several smaller companies in order to dissolve the monopoly
1893 - Henry Ford becomes a father, and chief engineer of Edison Illuminating Company
1894
1895
1896 - Henry Ford invents the Quadricycle
1897
1898
1899 - Henry Ford starts Detroit Automobile company
1900 - US population 76,212,168
1901 - Detroit Automobile company dissolves, Ford designs a 26 horsepower engine, wins a race with it, and begins Henry Ford Company
1902 - Henry Ford loses his company to a banker, which is renamed Cadillac Automobile company, then starts another car company which almost goes bankrupt when the Dodge brothers demand early payment for his unshipped product.
1903 - The Dodge Brothers acquire most of Ford's third attempt at a company as Ford himself begins working on automated industrialization processes to reduce costs.
1904 - Rockefeller begins a global propaganda campaign to make his wife feel better about being rich.
1905
1906
1907
1908 - Henry Ford invents the Model T, and the assembly line production system. JD Rockefeller publishes his memoirs.
1909 - JD Rockefeller invents the "holding company" as a means of bypassing anti-trust laws written specifically to dissolve his consolidated power.
1910 - US population 92,228,496
1911 - Standard Oil is now completely dissolved in the world's 34 largest oil companies. Rockefeller maintains controlling stock in almost all of them through layers upon layers of holding companies, while also maintaining personal ownership of 25% of the stocks in Standard Oil itself.
1912
1913 - Henry Ford perfects the assembly line, the Model T begins rapid mass production
1914 - Henry Ford astounds the world by offering his employees a wage double that of any other skilled labor position, World War One begins
1915
1916 - a quarter of a million Model Ts have been sold, and the price has dropped by 70% from the original production run.
1917
1918 - half of all cars in america are Model Ts, President Woodrow Wilson asks Ford to run for senate. World War One ends
1919
1920 - US population 106,021,537 (six times that of when JD Rockefeller was born)
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925 - Ford begins manufacturing airplanes
1926 - Ford begins designing the Model A
1927 - over fifteen million Model Ts have been sold, Model A goes into production
1928
1929 - The Great Depression begins
1930 - US population 123,202,624
1931 - over four million Model As have been sold, Henry Ford starts Universal Credit Corporation to finance the purchases for consumers
1932 - Ford sells Universal Credit Corporation because of the bank moratorium
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937 - JD Rockefeller dies (a couple months shy of age 98) as the Mafia begins to stand against labor unions in open warfare at Ford's production facilities
1938
1939 - World War Two begins, The Great Depression ends
1940 - US population 132,164,569
1941
1942
1943 - Henry Ford's son dies at the age of 49 from stomach cancer, because of his father's insistence on raw milk which resulted in numerous illnesses.
1944
1945 - World War Two ends
1946
1947 - Henry Ford dies (a couple months shy of age 84)
1948
1949
1950 - US population 151,325,798
~
2010 - US population 308,745,538 (18 times what it was when JD Rockefeller was born.)
1840-1950 being only 11 census measurements apart, a mere 110 years, the population rose from 17 million to 150 million, and in the following sixty years more than doubled again. If that growth trend continues, there should be a billion americans by 2055 (most of you should still be alive by then), and then ten billion by 2061. And then a hundred billion by 2063. and then a trillion by 2064, and then a hundred trillion by 2065, and a googol by 2070. And then by 2075 there should be more american citizens than atoms comprising the whole mass of the earth.
Sustainability is a topic we clearly need to deal with.
"May you live in interesting times." -chinese curse
Clearly, Ford and Rockefeller were cursed.
