Sure, he had problems with Jews, financially backed Hilter in the 1930′s, etc etc. But, at least on government bailouts for corporations, he had a very good point:

“Let them fail; let everybody fail! I made my fortune when I had nothing to start with, by myself and my own ideas. Let other people do the same thing. If I lose everything in the collapse of our financial structure, I will start in at the beginning and build it up again.”

” It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.”

- Henry Ford

Now, times were different back in Ford’s day, that’s for sure. But you can’t say that corporations weren’t as big as they are now, what with Standard Oil and the like. Industry giants back then were different, they actually made something, instead of just trading in commodities and funny money.

I agree with Henry Ford. Let them fail. We never should have bailed out the financial industry with taxpayer dollars that we’ll never get back and we shouldn’t bail out the auto industry with taxpayer dollars that we’ll never get back. It’s a waste of time and money in the purest sense.

I’m not economist and I don’t know a whole lot about financial markets, but I do have common sense, and common sense tells me that bailing out failing companies with free money, after they’ve driven themselves into the ground of their own accord is ludicrous.

It’s the same thing as promising a child a present if they get straight “A’s” on their report card; then, when they bring home a card filled with “D’s,” you give them the gift anyway. It doesn’t teach anyone a lesson and it makes the kid feel privileged in a way that degrades their sense of accomplishment.

If you knew that no matter how much you fucked up, you were still going to get a gift, why would you even try to succeed in the first place? You wouldn’t. So why are we giving taxpayer money to a bunch of fuck-ups? Because if we don’t, our whole financial system or auto industry will collapse? I call bullshit. Besides, where does it end? Next it will be the computer industry or the mining industry or even the oil industry, how does the government say no to them after they’ve bailed out these others?

Look, Americans love making money and we love driving cars. Those voids left by the failed industries will be filled by newer, better models. If the Big Three of Ford, GM and Chrysler fail, other companies will step up. Will it suck for awhile for the workers displaced by the closing of plants, yes. But, those people have a skill that will provide the backbone for a startup automaker to hit the ground running. Maybe we can even get a company that makes cars that aren’t connected at the hip to the oil industry.

No one succeeds by having everything handed to them and no innovation occurs when there is no incentive to do so. Let the auto industry fail. Other, more innovative companies will fill the void.