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kleinbl00  ·  2662 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Tesla’s Electric Cars Aren’t as Green as You Might Think

That's a decidedly rosy portrayal of Henry Ford and a decidedly uncharitable portrayal of the Dodge brothers. Realistically, the decision was "you don't get to fuck over minority shareholders just because they're minority."

The Dodge brothers made parts for everybody but Ford promised them a piece of the company if they stopped making parts for everybody else. So they did. Then, when they'd been making Model T engines for 10 years without making as much money as if they'd never started working for Ford at all, they had to take Henry Ford to court to compel him to use some of his capital surplus to fucking pay them back. When Ford lost he shipped a judgement's worth of parts to his dealers - collect, invoice due on receipt - and said "fuck you, you have a service department now, also, blame the Dodge Brothers because they're evil."

There's a real temptation to paint Ford as a humanitarian. He wasn't. He was a fascist who understood the cult of personality.