Thursday, October 27, 2016
Ford's TVA
From Science and Invention, Mar 1922. Ford invented the TVA.
Pulling out text and editing a bit:
Pulling out text and editing a bit:
Everyone is familiar with the proposition of Ford to obtain possession of the Muscle Shoals electric plant, built by the Government during WW1. Mr Ford's proposal provides for the building of a giant city 75 miles long, centered on Muscle Shoals. Then would follow rapid development... until within a few years an industrial center greater than Detroit would have been built up. Mr Ford believes the Muscle Shoals plan would be the start toward development of the Mississippi River Valley. This valley could "run the United States" if the water now going to waste could be efficiently utilized. ... The Government could derive enough revenue from these power projects to support itself, thereby revolutionizing the financial system of the country.The long city would have been a terrible idea, so it's good that the gov't rejected Ford's offer to buy Alabama and control all the water on every farm. Ten years later the gov't implemented a better idea, leaving existing cities in place, building more big dams for power, and using the water and electricity to grow farms and businesses. I doubt that the TVA could have "run the whole country", but TVA plus BPA do in fact power a major part of the country even now. I also doubt that the gov't could have entirely supported itself, but TVA and BPA have been profitable for the Feds. Many cities supported their entire tax base from municipal power plants in the '30s and '40s, so the idea isn't impossible. And of course 90 years later the gov't went ahead and controlled all the water on every farm in the fucking country, tore down all dams, and eliminated all clean sources of electricity in an effort to exterminate everything except the Tribe. We have in fact revolutionized the financial system in the direction of chaos and ruin. So the bad parts of Ford's original idea have returned with a ferocious vengeance, serving Satan instead of workers and farmers. We're fucked.
Labels: skill-estate, switchover, the broken circle
¶ 2:07 AM
