My father who‘s a (vintage) Ford fan had talked about this book during a visit, so I thought I‘d give it a go and did not expect much.
While I didn‘t agree with all his views, I enjoyed much of it, especially the insight into the period of the American auto industry and his critiques of Reagan. His essays on tariffs and protecting the US auto industry were informative to my ability to critique current times. Shelf alongside High Output Management!
#tuesdaytunes
I've been finding comfort this week in revisiting 80s/90s country: Doug Stone, Collin Raye, Lonestar, Sawyer Brown, Mary Chapin Carpenter.
Clint Black's D'lectrified was a childhood favorite, and, listening this morning, I couldn't remember for sure whether The Galaxy Song was from Monty Python (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkkjzmuEBbo) or Animaniacs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BphgKX-DZE), and that made me smile 😊
pickLoved it. Learned a ton! Didn‘t realize how late the US was to WWII, and was awesome to hear about how it geared up production for the war (the “arsenal of democracy”).
If you've ever watched Willy Wonka, what you really saw was the story of a rich factory owner turning a blind eye to near-death and disfigurement while engaging in some fairly sketchy employment practices (Oompa Loompas are paid in cocoa beans?!). Perhaps we die-hard fans should read J. Freeman's history of factories and meditate upon the exploitation inherent in their operation. Wonka- quirky genius or capitalist scum? 😉 #MoviesInApril
so-soThe first half of the book is really good. You follow the author around while he gives you a history of the automotive industry in Detroit. The second half gets a bit monotonous. Chapter after chapter of how a plant gets stripped and sold off. He does his best to make the limited cast of characters sound like outlaws and misfits, but it only goes so far. Decent read if you're into history or from the area but not something you'd read for pleasure
Chapter 2: They Just Closed The Door
Thinking about how large the Budd company was at it's highest, the largest sheet metal company in American in the 1920's, The largest automotive stamping facility in the world in the 1970's, closed in 2006. The Story of Budd, is the story of Detroit.
Started “Punching Out“ by Paul Clemens as he follows the year after the Budd Company stamping plant on Detroit‘s East Side, closed in 2006. One chapter in, he paints a picture of just how large the automotive industry was in Detroit and what a labor intensive process it was to “Stamp“ parts out for the assembly plants. Almost all of this has been replaced by automation and outsourced for cheaper labor.
