(Iacocca, p. 2). It is unquestionable that Ford ushered in a reasonable wage for a reasonable work-week. He not only doubled the wages for his workers, but greatly exceeded the wages offered for similar work by competitors. In addition, by giving his workers adequate time-off and a shorter work week, Ford helped usher in current American notions of leisure time. On the production side of things, by resisting pressure to develop an automobile for the upper-class, Ford helped create the current standard of living for the American middle class. It was because of Ford that automobile ownership became a standard for middle-class Americans. Unfortunately, Ford was also responsible for other elements linked to the idea of the middle class in America. For example, many middle-Americans continue to associate Jews with economic power and control and believe that they threaten the middle-class lifestyle. While these ideas predated Ford, he helped them gain popularity and acceptability during his lifetime. In addition, by helping build the current automobile infrastructure, Ford could be held responsible for the suburbanization of America, which many view as something...

Finally, some view the mass production and consumption of the automobile as the first step towards modern American consumerism, which currently has many middle-class Americans drowning in debt. Despite these negative attributes, when one compares the American standard of living to those of other industrialized countries, it becomes clear that Ford made tremendous positive contributions to American society.
Works Cited

Baldwin, Neil. Henry Ford and the Jews: The Mass Production of Hate. New York: Public

Affairs, 2001.

Ford, Henry. The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem. Whitefish Montana:

Kessinger Publishing, 2003.

Ford, Henry and Samuel Crowther. My Life and Work. Garden City, New York: Doubleday,

Page & Company: 1925.

Iacocca, Lee. "Henry Ford." Time Magazine Online. 2003. Time Inc. 27 Jul. 2006 http://www.time.com/time/time100/builder/profile/ford.html

Wikipedia Contributors. "Henry Ford." Wikipedia, The Free Encylopedia. 2006. Wikimedia

Foundation, Inc. 27 Jul. 2006 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford.