SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: i-node who wrote (956661)8/14/2016 9:38:24 PM
From: combjelly  Read Replies (4) | Respond to of 1575615
 
No, he wasn't stupid. I think that has been well established.

You do realize that if you give people more mone so they can buy cars, you will ALWAYS spend more on additional labor costs than you could make on the additional cars, right?

That isn't obvious at all. Henry's major innovations had to do with economies of scale in mass production. Most cars of the time were individually made with lots of hand labor. Ford changed that. Now the thing is, for mass production to be economical, you have to make things in large numbers and sell them. The larger the numbers, the cheaper the cost per unit. So anything that drives up production, drives down the unit cost.

What you say might be true if you are at or near peak production. But if you aren't, well...

The factories were built. So the fixed costs were already in place. Of the variable costs, employees could be added and extra shifts run to maximize the value of the fixed costs. Materials cost less with higher volumes purchased within limits. So driving volume makes sense.

In addition, the available evidence indicates that he firmly believed that by paying employees more would drive the economy higher, resulting in more sales. He apparently reacted to the stock market crash by increasing wages. When that failed, he blamed the results on the other manufacturers cutting wages to maximize or protect profits instead of raising them to maximize sales. He probably had a point.

For someone who claims to understand economics and business, you seem to lack understanding of basic facts. Or economics. Or technology. Or, well a large number of things.

Oh. I forgot. You think you can just produce stuff and markets will magically appear. That people without money will buy stuff.

That unicorns and fairy dust drive economies.



To: i-node who wrote (956661)8/15/2016 9:25:07 AM
From: Alighieri  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 1575615
 
You do realize that if you give people more mone so they can buy cars, you will ALWAYS spend more on additional labor costs than you could make on the additional cars, right?


I am amazed at the black and white world you live in...things are far more colorful than you would have them. Without getting into the numerical economic wisdom of what what Ford did, we know today that his action stabilized his workforce and helped create a legacy of prosperity that continued for decades...

Al