How do we regain the American spirit of co-operation between the classes?

Question

Working for the common goal of making life enjoyable for ALL our citizens?
One of the greatest American industrialists Henry Ford understood these principles.That is why he started paying his employees $5 a day........an unheard of wage at the time........ Because he understood that he needed a prosperous middle classes to continue selling his cars!

Another extremely wealthy man J. paul Getty once wrote "Labor is intitled to its fair share of the profits"....... and he actually believed the unions made life better for ALL Americans!

Sorry typo------should be "entitled to its fair share of the profits"

Hot & Mark-----You seem to want to forget that it was Ford who really helped make this country great nation it once was!He was the first mass producer of the automobile which is what our economy was built on throughout the 20th century!

Thank you ash for pointing him out another truly great American who actually built his fortune!

Answer 1

Quit giving huge tax breaks to the rich. Penalize companies that outsource overseas, improve the social safety nets, improve consumer protection. In other words, the government has to go back to the new deal era. The classes got along better when the rich-poor gap was compressed.

"Conscience of a Liberal" Paul Krugman
http://krugmanonline.com/pdf/conscienliberal.pdf

Answer 2

You are taking a specific example and applying that to a past that didn't exist... I'll see your Henry Ford and I'll raise all the old company stores and one Commission of Public Safety.

Most people work for their own interests. This other stuff about a happier, gentler time when we banded together for baseball and apple pie? It exists only in the digestive tracts of the mob it was constructed as fodder for...

response:
First, again, your premise is an oversimplification of the past. You didn't define "great", you cherry picked one person, and seemingly put him on a (apparently democratized ) pedestal as an example of how businesses used to be better. You say the automobile is what our economy was built on... which economy, of what time period?
Minnesota is one of the more union friendly states and it is so, due to its past. There were organizing efforts prior to the US joining WWI both in the Twin Cities (mainly Minneapolis) and the iron range. Business leaders in concert with the highest levels of state government wanted to put these unions down, they hired muscle to go up to the range and after a short tussle, the workers separated. Soon, the war began and these same business and government leaders were able to tie subservience to ones employer to patriotism and, conversely, unions to "Red sympathy". The attorney general at the time and a member of the Commission of Public Safety (along with the governor and several business leaders) defended the Commision's rough behavior by saying that sometimes to protect the constitution, it needs to be circumvented.
We can hear reverberations of Mr. Tighe today in the intellectually breathtaking maxim: The constitution is not a death contract.
Adorable.
You're blatantly cherry-picking history in your premise, that's my point, disagree with me all you want, I'm confident you've already given me a thumb's down.

Answer 3

Here is a current example - Bill Gates Sr. and other wealthy americans who believe the rich should pay inheritance taxes. But this is hardly ever mentioned in the media so good luck with achieving any sort of cooperation.

Answer 4

Simple. Eliminate huge conglomerates with thousands of stockholders, fund managers, boards of directors, and vice-presidents. Getty and Ford are relics from a time when businessmen ran cults of personality in democracies of one. Now, decisions are made mainly by faceless automatons who spend three years in an MBA program learning which buttons to push, often forgetting the "why" behind pushing them. Union leaders today often aren't much better.

In order to cooperate with another person or group of persons, you have to first ACT like a person yourself.

Answer 5

John Edwards should set the example by walking across the road and making peace with his neighbors who he has been vilifying for years.
Your examples amuse me. Bill Gates also pays his people very well...