Spoken Mises

When did the Ford Motor Company begin to lose its way? Garet Garret, writing in what remains the best history of the American car, says that the problems began in the 1930s, during the New Deal, when the labor unions used government to turn the company from consumer service toward union service. Then management lost sight of the original vision of its great founder. Then the founder himself lost his way. All events since that time have consisted mostly in the slow but sure strangulation of a once-great company. The crisis began during the New Deal and has lasted until now, when the only real salvation for the Ford Motor Co. and the American car generally is a complete revolution that government and unions intend to make impossible.

(Original Text)

The End of Ford: It Began in the New Deal (2.53 MB)