How has Michigan’s economy historically depended on Ford, and what are the risks of relying too heavily on a single corporation? Could they be perceived to uphold a power that allows them to act recklessly?
74 replies (most recent on top)
@q4 “wtf does that even mean” — bro got lost in a sentence with one slang word. Reading comprehension fell off harder than Ford stock. That's sad, saltine
@q3 wtf does that even mean. Stop before u ruin q4 and we go c11
@q2 Cope harder, saltine. The salt’s so thick I had to scroll with oven mitts.
@q1 cope
@q0 Imagine getting triggered by punctuation—then coping by accusing someone of using AI. Bro saw an em-dash and had a full existential crisis
@pz em-dash nerd spotted
What triggers you so much that you used AI LOL
the sacred upvote wars of TheLayoff.com—where anonymous keyboard warriors become constitutional scholars, grid economists, geopolitical analysts, and part-time union spies... all while rage-refreshing their browsers to inflate their internet clout
@ng Personal offense taken it seems
Do you have a job to go to today or were you "affected"?
@nd Saltine? Crying about numbers instead of making a point? Fascinating. Truly. A forensic audit of upvotes on a layoff thread.
@n9 You’re counting votes like it’s the midterms and you’re up for election. Relax, boss.
@n9 get this to -40😂
@n9 you know those people that try to derail and describe pathology or mental health concerns instead of objective dialogue?
I honestly think you’re crashing out over this thread.
What did OP or any of the commenters do to you, to get that salty?
how long does it take to upvote yourself 40 times?
Comments before the we-ponized absurdity carry elite ball knowledge here…
“We-ponized absurdity” is a deliberate strategy: if everything is a joke or distraction, truth gets buried in the noise.
@dq what if it was a girlie? Why r u talking to urself BTW 😛
@dq EPIC FAIL
@fb don’t let ‘em get to you. These people are soulless and do whatever it takes to protect fords image. They have stake in their anti-intellectualism campaign.
https://newslit.org/tips-tools/astroturfing-as-fake-as-it-sounds/
In the other thread they was tagged here (the false flag comment), you’ll see how they used anti-union campaigns against their people. It’s literal deception. These people are scary and sh---y people posing to be good members of our community in Michigan.
These bad actors ruin good things here in Michigan. People that could otherwise be massive ripple effects.
This is a good read. They practice what is known as a smear campaign:
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/sep/07/astroturfing-energy-citizens-us
While protecting bad actors to save jobs, they destroy people who could create even better jobs. It’s really bad short term thinking from Michigan leadership.
Also, just bad morals. Life is complex though. Not so simple.
•••
@f9 why are you trying to derail and discredit this thread? Attack the information, not the person. This is in salty taste and it makes me question your motive. What do you not like about what was shared here? Let’s have a real conversation instead of shifting distraction from an important and productive topic. I’m not even OP, but every attack on this thread has been absurdly wounded. Please don’t say I’m in an acute crisis or something for calling it out. Also, how do you know all these comments are all OP? Why does it even matter? It’s really good information that is objective enough to inform the reader.
People like you are annoying AF, you ruin what otherwise would have been a peaceful and informative thread. Just why?
Opening and closing your browser repeatedly to give yourself upvotes on an anonymous board is weirdo behavior
@cf false flag @OP+1k1s893a0
Ford itself is a two-class share dictatorship. The Ford family’s 71 million super-votes elect 40% of the board even though they own < 2% of the equity. Decisions that dump risk on Michigan (plant moves, China licensing, etc.) can be rammed through despite public and common-shareholder opposition.
@cx sorry was there a point to your comment or did you want to remain cryptic and pull a confidence trick
This dude has been on here talking to himself and upvoting himself dozens of times. yikes
@ct thoughts and prayers
@ct That moment where you died inside. Sorry.
Did you know that Detroit existed before the Ford Motor Company?
They made railroad cars, stoves, boats and boat engines in Detroit.
A recruiter called me a couple years ago. I've always got my ears open to opportunities. Everyone should that works in auto.
Anyways, once she heard where I work she cut off the conversation and said something like, oh I can't get you out of there
Ford now licenses lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery technology from CATL (PR China) under a technical services agreement. It plans to build a Ford-owned battery plant in Marshall, Michigan, where full LFP cell production will occur using CATL’s intellectual property. While initial startup phases may involve some imported components or packs, the long-term plan includes domestic cell manufacturing under license. This arrangement raises questions about the value capture of licensed manufacturing versus owning core cell IP and highlights the broader issue of U.S. industrial policy, where even in domestic plants, the critical battery technology originates offshore. House-passed “big, beautiful bill” slashes EV battery tax credits for projects using Chinese tech. Ford warns its CATL-licensed Marshall plant and 1,700 jobs could be “imperiled”. Two weeks later, Senate rewrite softens the language; Reuters reports the plant is 60% built and still on track for credits. Production slated for 2026. Michigan pledged > $1.7B in state incentives for that plant; a 2024 scale-back prompted a $600 M claw-back.
@cd and which talent can study there while employed…or after
EGLE (Michigan’s environmental regulator) has historically delayed or diluted industrial enforcement when auto OEMs raise “job loss” concerns. Internal DEQ memos (e.g. during Snyder’s term) revealed political pressure to “not overreach” on emissions inspections tied to key employers. You don’t need to change the law if you can get enforcement to flinch. Ford just has to remind regulators what happened in 2008.
Unions are ki-ling Michigan auto plants. New plants being built in red states where there are few to no unionizatioŋs. They are thriving and support the rust belt where these folks are gleefűl to work in shop or in the office daily with little drama. Simply as thîs
Ford does participate in interruptible load and “power down” rate agreements with utilities like DTE. This saves Ford money during peak demand and gives grid managers flexibility, but also makes Ford a base-load pillar. If Ford exits the region, you don’t just lose job, you destabilize grid economics for entire counties.
Ford executives sit on various University of Michigan boards and committees, shaping research direction. UMich facilities like Mcity, Battery Labs, and the Mobility Transformation Center have Ford-specific partnerships. While not illegal or necessarily unethical, this academic–industrial alignment helps Ford steer regional innovation before competitors can access it.
If Ford signals intent to move battery ops to Georgia or Tennessee, Michigan officials may weigh not just job losses, but the broader industrial footprint… including water use tied to the Rouge Complex. While not comparable to Nestlé’s bottled water deals, the optics of losing Great Lakes–based industrial activity to another state are politically sensitive. The precise value of Ford’s water access isn’t publicly disclosed, but any large-volume user leaving the basin would raise environmental and economic flags alike. Ford seems to already be repping Kentucky for announcements which hurt the motor city pride. We already lost huge automotive market share to companies based outside the state.
My thoughts which are valid in critique but not statement of fact:
Showing too much love, to anyone, is like vouching for someone that is for everybody. Embarrassing how hard we represented them. Trying to make us jealous. I personally believe you can’t be all things to all people. I mean you can, if you’re a people pleaser or a political zeitgeist.
Michigan State Police continues to rely heavily on Ford’s Police Interceptor lineup for its highway fleet. While exact procurement terms aren’t public, Ford’s long-standing presence and MSP’s own vehicle performance testing give it an embedded advantage. Lose Ford, and the MSP risks losing platform continuity and any scale efficiencies baked into that relationship.
When a dominant company like Ford (or any legacy player) squashes, co-opts, or discredits talent— especially early innovators, technical minds, or entrepreneurial thinkers… that’s not just HR misconduct or culture failure. It’s economic sabotage in slow motion. A great engineer or product thinker gets burned, blacklisted, or used without credit or fairness. They (and their peers) learn that building something original is punished or stolen, not rewarded— like evil eye. Talent either leaves the state to meet their potential or goes passive — effectively nerfing them if they’re still in prime neurodevelopment years. They don’t found new companies, challenge incumbents, or push for structural change. So instead of a marketplace of ideas, you get a narrow pipeline of compliance, funneled back into legacy employers who extract value without redistribution. Even if a suppressed innovator’s idea wasn’t automotive, say, it was in med-tech, fintech, or agri-robotics, their absence from the market shrinks Michigan’s competitive edge… copying them is not sustainable, you cannot TEMU this stuff. You need original builders in Michigan, in a climate that doesn’t gaslight them and make them forget who they were before they got in bed with you. You need to remind them who they are when bad actors make them forget, early naivety leaves them susceptible to manipulators. Compliment them, not define them. You listen to what they need, and don’t hold hostage against them, for your own bitter agenda. You study extrinsic incentive bias and dismantle the conditions that reward short-term conformity over long-term originality.
@b9 Cities? Municipal bonds, university grants, and economic development programs have been shaped around Ford’s needs, reinforcing the idea that Ford is “too big to discipline”
@bg The real driver is political fear of economic collapse, not legal entanglement.
Michigan’s state and municipal pensions own large chunks of Ford bonds and equity. If Ford tanks, cities literally lose pension value. That’s why local officials won’t touch aggressive enforcement. They’d be suing themselves.