Corporate Accountability

Dodge v. Ford is one of the most misunderstood and weaponized pieces of legal history – and if you've encountered it on a TikTok or LinkedIn thread, there's a good chance what you heard was wrong. In 1916, Henry Ford held $60M in cash. He announced plans to cut the Model T price, raise worker wages, and build the River Rouge plant. The Dodge brothers sued. What the Michigan Supreme Court actually ruled (and what it didn't) is far less dramatic than the myth suggests.

The year is 1955. The horrors of the Great Depression and the rattling of WWII are far in the rearview. America is in an economic and cultural boom. You clock in to a union-protected job, come home to a pretty little tract house, picket fence and all. No college degree required. A pension is waiting. Now fast-forward. Student loan debt, gig work classified as "entrepreneurship," and a hybrid data analyst role paying what your grandfather made in 1955. Sound familiar?

Tonight I watched It's a Wonderful Life with my daughter. I normally save it for Christmas Eve. But I'm 13 months post-layoff, rejection deep, and the movie hits differently at this point in my life. Because it's not really a Christmas movie. It's a story about what happens when greed and self-interest are left unchecked – and about community as the only real defense against a capitalist villain who has decided that your survival is not his problem.