Another facet not mentioned is unemployment. The world of pretty casual factory work (52k hires/year with 14k employees) was one in which (say) a 20% decline in

Another facet not mentioned is unemployment. The world of pretty casual factory work (52k hires/year with 14k employees) was one in which (say) a 20% decline in work meant the average guy waited an extra 2.8 weeks before starting the next job, which he did a few times each year. It's pretty easy to save/borrow enough for a few weeks. But in Ford's new world of more-or-less employment for life, a 20% decline meant 20% got fired, and those guys now waited on the bench until the economy recovered. This is, I think, part of why the great depression was so unpleasant, compared to 19th century recessions. (For clarity, I don't think this was anybody's intention, just a consequence of higher-skill jobs being less flexible. Nor that it was the entire story.)