Basic HTML Version
WeWarned You
3~
Years Ago
Prepare to Greatly
Reduce
Your Standard
ofLiving!
In January 1980- almost
30
years ago–
we publishedfor our readers this eye-open–
ing article as an advance warning. Our
many new readers need this know/edge. So
we republish it now. updated, as the world
enters a newphase ofthe growing economic
crisis- the throes of recovery.
I
T's
TIME
you knew the
rea l meani ng of the pres–
ent financial crisis- the
high real interest rates and
the fear of continued unem–
ployment.
There is far more to all this
economic concern than appears
on the surface. lts roots even
penetrate into ancient hi story
and biblical prophecy . Where
are the United States a nd Brit–
ish nations mentioned in Bible
prophecy? What is prophesied
about t hese very conditions?
What does it a ll really mean'?
What does it portend for the rela–
tively immediate future?
Those of us in the United States
have enjoyed the most prosperous
living standard of any na tion in all
the history of mankind. There is a
reason for t his unmatched prosperi–
ty. There also is a reason for the
present abnormal economic condi–
tions and the continuing fear in
financial and government circles
that the West may well be in the
beginning of a most severe debt cri–
sis.
A number of times
1
have pub–
May
1983
by
Herbert W. Armst rong
lished an economic analysis of the
real causes of economic distresses
in the Un ited States a nd e lse–
where.
But now the stranglehold of eco–
nomic disturbances is tightening
around our necks. This trend is
going to reach out and g reatly
red uce
your
standard of living, in
the next two years or more.
More Than Mere Economic
Factors
Actually, what is happening to us
now is much more than purely eco–
nomic causes and effects. Yet of
course t hese have contributed their
part.
I
have written more than once
about an incident in my personal
experience which t ook place in ear–
ly J anuary 19 14. This was before
most of our readers were born. But
[ was covering a s ignificant event. [
was t hen an editorial representative
of America's largest trade journal.
l
was t raveling, by t rai n of course
in those days, eastward in New
York state from Buffalo. At Utica
1
received a telegram from our edi–
tors instructing me to catch the
first train back to Detroit to inter–
view Henry Ford.
Henry Ford was on ban ner front–
page headlines in that morning's
newspapers. The Ford Motor Com–
pany had just come o ut with a sen–
sational new $5-a-day wage scale!
Don't laugh. Five dollars was a
lot o f money in 1914. My editors
wanted me to cover this story and
get a ll t he facts in pe r son.
In a sense, that was t he begin–
ning of the highest living standard
eve r e njoy e d in any nation,
although the American standard
was already perhaps the world's
highest. But with Henry Ford's
sensat ional new wage scale, the
U.S. living standard was to escalate
to an a ll-time world peak.
l
saw Mr. Ford, but learned that
the whole new plan had been
devised and was administered by
John R. Lee, head of the sociologi–
cal department.
"1
understand you are now paying
by far the highest wage scale in t he
automobi le industry," 1 said to Mr.
Lee.
He smi led . "On the contrary," he
said, "we are paying the
lowest!"
l
was taken aback. " But isn't the
union scale $3.75 per ten-hour
day?"
"Correct," he confirmed.
"And are you not now paying $5
per day for only a nine-hour day?"
" Right again, but we don' t figure
what we
rea/ly
pay on that basis. We
compute it on the basis of what we
get for each dollar spent. You see,
our sales volume is now great enough
to enable us to install a new conveyor
belt or assembly- line system of pro–
duction. We take full advantage of
the fact t hat fewer men can produce
much
more
by machines t han a
greater number of workmen by
hand. We start each car at one end
19