Author: matt_pouchain1

Posted on by matt_pouchain1 business, state, and society, Uncategorized

Ford & Jack Kultgen: A true role-model businessman

Over the past century, Ford Motor company has pioneered the automotive industry since the invention of the model T. More or less than eight decades ago, in 1936, Bird-Kultgen Ford had its beginning when Jack Kultgen and Arthur Bird bought the Duncan-Smith Ford dealership on North Fifth Street in downtown Waco. In 1947, they relocated to 13th Street and Franklin Avenue, which then was on the business outskirts of town. Later in 1993, it moved to West Loop 340/State Highway, pioneering as the first dealership on what would become Waco’s “Motor Mile”, and the Kultgen family continues to operate it today.

John Henry “Jack” Kultgen was born onChicago, Illinois and was an extremely successful businessman, and an active individual in society. He was one of the five sons of John Dominic Kultgen and Ingeborg Emma Mary Johnsdotter Johnson Fossenohn. Jack married Reba Belle Mickelborough on June 15th, 1921, with whom he had two sons, David Kultgen and John H. Kultgen. In addition, he was a Roman Catholic and served as Knight Commander of St. Gregory the great in the Roman literature and worked on behalf of St. Mary’s parish, the Diocese of Austin.

During World War I, he took a leave of absence on all of his businesses and responsibilities, and served as a pilot in the Army Signal Corps. In World War II, he served as regional food executive and later as the director on Forth Worth Operations. Subsequently, he also served on the OPA. The Office of price administration (OPA) was established within the office for Emergency Management of the United States government by Executive Order 8875 on August 28th, 1941. The functions of the OPA were basically to control money (price controls) and rents after the outbreak of World War I. Even though Kultgen was associated with automobiles in 1921, only later in 1936 he opened his first Ford Dealership in Waco.

Besides selling cars, Jack Kultgen became a strong civic leader in the community. He was involved in numerous movements and organizations, his leadership was decisive in the achievement of extraordinary progress in many ways. Such as education, health care, water resources management, highway development, community relations, and in good government.

First and far most, he was the President of Bird-Kultgen inc, which is the Waco Ford dealership, (the recipient of the 1984 TIME Magazine Quality Dealer Award). Nevertheless, he was also the president of Huaco leasing company, president of the Huaco corporation, director of the First National bank of Waco, president of Texas life insurance company, president of the Country Retiring Action, Director of the Texas Central Railroad and president of the Behrens Drug company. If all that responsibility wasn’t enough for one man, Kultgen was also the first member and chairman of the Waco Chamber of Commerce Highway Committee, as well as the member of The Texas Highway Commission since 1963  and later served as president of Texas Good Highway Association. Subsequently, The Waco Tribune-Herald further mention Kultgen’s extraordinary recognitions made by Gov. Connally while appointing him for the Highway commision.

Jack Kultgen

John’s extensive resume may seem exhausting, but his philanthropic actions are far from over. The businessman led campaigns for funds to contribute to Baylor-Baylor-Waco foundation, contributed to the Baylor stadium, and gave personal leadership in the Baylor stadium fund drive. Overall, his donations were a pillar to Baylor. Aside from Baylor, he was a member of the U.S Study Commission on water problems, member of the board of the Texas State Technical Institute(TSTI), chairman of the Central Committee for Community Health and Welfare Study, contributed the creation of the Province hospital (where he was the chairman), assisted to St. Maty’s parish, and participated in the development of interstate 35. As president of Waco-Paul Quinn foundation, he raised funds to build the Paul-Quinn library, and to support academic excellence to the oldest negro college west of Mississippi. Jack was also a dynamic leader in the Waco chamber of commerce and at the Greater Waco United Found as president by lending his talents for the good of the community. Nonetheless, The Waco Tribune-Herald and The Waco Citizen articles from the 1950-60s credited him with moving the headquarters of the Brazos River Authority established in Waco, in which he was the director/president, and fighting for the Lake Waco Dam.

An article in 1958 from The Waco Citizen, stated “Jack Kultgen is ‘Man Of the Hour’ In Waco”. The article recognized the member of the advisory board for the national United Fund organizations, Jack Kultgen, for his efforts within the Waco community. The article claimed that he was responsible for the investigation that changed Waco from the Community Chest to the all-inclusive United Fund. Also, it is said that The Chamber of Commerce members “recall Kultgen’s tenure in office as a past president”, and his continuous effort in the organization. It was also mentioned that jack has been a “prime factor” in the air force around Waco as a member of the military affairs committee chairman. Later on, the newspaper credits Jack for his presidency on the Library Board and Heart O’ Texas Fair Board, and mentions that not only “an infinite number” of other local organizations had been supported by Jack, but that he will continue to have “a major part in this civic betterment”. In conclusion it discloses that their “short synopsis doesn’t do justice for the man” and finally that “Waco needs more Jack Kultgens”.

Not surprisingly, Jack won the national recognition, notably Benjamin Franklin Award, for conduction his business in the public interest. His wisdom and foresight have been enlisted by board directors of first national bank, Texas life insurance company, Waco savings and loan association. He also won the annual state-wide award for “Unselfish Service in Water Conservation” at the Fort Worth Press’ Save the Soil and Save Texas program in 1959.  Finally, Kultgen had a freeway(Jack Kultgen expressway) dedicated to him by the city of, Mclennan Country and Waco Chamber of Commerce.

Lately, a contingent from Ford visited the dealership to take a few photographs and congratulate president Peter Kultgen(Jack’s grandson) “for delivering excellent service and taking care of customers for this long,” said Dan Gubasta, zone manager for East Texas and Waco. The dealership at 1701 W. Loop 340, on Waco’s “Motor Mile,” is still operating and employs about 80 people. Lastly, the Kultgen family received the Heritage Award from Baylor University’s Institute for Family Business in 2011.

The historic Bird-Kultgen Ford building at 13th Street and Franklin Avenue will become a climate-controlled storage facility that will target the hundreds of people who have moved into lofts and townhomes in downtown Waco, which was vacant since 2006.

Bird-Kultgen Ford dealership

 

Bonus: Not surprisingly, Henry Ford(founder of Ford) also had a notable impact on the society. Henry was known as an American automobile manufacturer who created the Fort Model T in 1908, and went on to create the assembly line method production, which revolutionized not only his industry but the entire economy.

1 Comment Posted on by matt_pouchain1 business, state, and society, Uncategorized

Incentives and Their Impact on Society

In chapter 12 of MP, the author looks upon the safety issue in the automotive industry. The automakers advocate against the government claiming the existence of a lack of economic incentives regarding automotive safety. Furthermore, the automotive industry was compared to railroads and airplanes. In that matter, in the 20s, the government played the major role in incentivizing the aeronautics. Under the Contract Air Mail Act of 1925, the U.S. Postmaster General gave subsidized air mail contracts to encourage the airlines to demand safer, quieter, and larger planes from aircraft manufacturers. This generous government incentive scheme worked: By 1933, plane manufacturers Boeing and Douglas had each developed the modern all-metal, two-engine monoplane for the airlines, and air travel for people took off.  As we observed, incentives play a major role in the economy as they provide support or avoidance of determined industries. Another great example of incentives are in the railroad’s industry also covered in the MP: Under the Pacific Railroad Acts of 1862 through 1866, the U.S. government demonstrated strong economic incentives as they handed railroad companies 103 million acres of public land; But anyhow, that just one type of incentive available.

There are 3 categories of incentives: Moral, Social and Economic Incentives. Recycling bottles in exchange for small amounts of money is a clear example of the cross-over between a moral and an economic incentive. Recycling the bottle in itself satisfies the human desire to contribute to the betterment of the environment. Seeing that climate change is becoming a more pressing issue the option of recycling bottles gives some moral relief to those that take part. In addition to this, the act of recycling bottles or any material really can wield 30 cents per can on average which could total large sums of money in the long run. Furthermore, if the US were to recycle 75% of its waste around 1-2 million new jobs would be created as supported by EPA’s study. In this way, it offers an economic incentive such that profit can be made. In this particular example, both incentives are complementary.

The most obvious of the “Big Ideas” for this course that stands is Business, State and Society. If one chooses the recycle for the economic reason the moral ability to save I am saving the earth one step at a time comes as an additional perk and vise versa. The moral incentive can be seen as the primary motive for most. According to an infographic study done by the GOOD Magazine over 81% of participants in the study recognized a moral benefit of recycling- no landfills. In the same study for those individuals that didn’t recycle regularly, the primary reason was due to the fact that the recycling plants were too far not the fact that it was time-consuming.

Similarly, charges that enforce public safety such as driving under the influence offer an overlapping of two incentives: social and economic. In the social aspect after the receipt of a DUI most driving licenses get suspended for 6 or more months or the possibility of 6-months jail time. Both of these social punishments lead to a tarnished record often isolating them from job opportunities and social situations. The economic incentive i.e charges ranging from $1000- $3000 deter the possibility of intoxicated persons taking the risk of driving. Both incentives possess a beneficial symbiotic relationship such that the added effects of both incentives proves to be a strong deterrent and achieves the goal of keeping roads safe. In this particular case, the strongest deterrent would be the social aspect. If the DUI was solely based on economic gain, a majority of people would pay the fine and have the error be permanently erased. In this way, the mistake would not seep into social situations and would have a low chance of affecting success career-wise. However, having the line blurred allows people to be more cautious seeing that it is their future that comes into play, not just financial stability.

1 Comment Posted on by matt_pouchain1 business, state, and society, unacknowledged assumptions

Oppression in the Job Market and the Black Power Movement.

In chapter 7 of MJ, Kenneth Lipartito alleges the existence of  “whites only” policies and remarks that the overlaying majority of the woman hired where white single females. Consequently to the ongoing black employee oppression and discrimination, numerous movements pro-black culture were gaining popularity. One of the major movement in the late 19th century was the Black Power Movement. The popular TV shows called “Independent Lens” featured by PBS, the documentary debuts the arrival of Swedish filmmakers to explore the Black Power Movement. As the movement was classified as a “violent threat” by the U.S media, a lot of intangible data was acquired by the filmmakers. Some may claim that the movement was basically a necessarily a black narcissistic movement, as it raised the pride of negros.  However, the effect of the movements goes much further than raising pride, as it built a column/foundation to the modern movement “black lives matter”.  Just as the police and their actions were the prime focus of Black Lives Matter, the law enforcement was targeted during the Black Power movement. The main difference between the two movements was that the Black power movement was an unadulterated black movement, meaning that whites did not chant it.

In the 1970ʻs the Black Power movement began to spread throughout America. The movement was a political and social movement that incentivized racial pride and equality by empowering Black people to reclaim a sense of culture that was taken from them over generations of enslavement. To expand my knowledge in the subject, I consulted the data presented by the government’s national archives. Due to the aggressivity of the movement,  Federal agencies and collections have records that are directly related to the Black Power movement, including information on various organizations, such as the Nation of Islam (NOI), Deacons for Defense and Justice, and the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP). The documentation also includes records on individuals, such as Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, Stokely Carmichael, and Shirley Chisholm. In fact, the first articulation of “Black Power” was credited to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee leader, Stokely Carmichael, who represented black activists.

The most evident of the “Big ideas” for this course that within the movement is Business, State and Society. The movement encouraged African Americans to return to their traditional, African roots. As result, clothing with traditional African patterns became more common, along with Afros and African dance groups. However, the movement brought more than new fashion statements.  Black activists encouraged their community to reclaim their African heritage and build a new African American culture through names. During this time America began seeing an increase in what they called, “black names”. While some of these names were linked to traditional African names, many of them were also invented by the African American community. Until this shift, most African American and white children shared similar, if not identical, names.  The diverse naming of African American children compared to white children began to create an even bigger divide between the two peoples. It was now easier for citizens to put their personal biases on others just by seeing a name, for names had begun to indicate culture and ethnicity as well as personal identity. But not all African Americans followed this trend. While some African American parents picked traditional African names, other continued to use classically “white names”.  Using data from California birth-certificates dating back to the 1960ʻs, we can begin to see what kind of African American parents would choose to name their child a “black name” instead of a “white name”. What Roland G. Fryer Jr., a young black economist, found was that young, undereducated, low-income black women with a similarly traditional “black name” were significantly more likely to give their child a “black name”. These women commonly lived in black communities, making the choice of giving their child a “black name” a lot easier, for it signaled their solidarity with the community and agreement with the black power movement.  This decision was also majorly influenced by outward societal pressures felt by these women, many of which surrounded the idea that a black woman giving their child a “white name” was seen as the said women trying to “act white”. This label could lead to her and her child being heavily judged by their community, and possibly becoming outcasts.

The criticisms of the movement also align with another “Big idea” for this course. The criticism reveals “unintended consequences ”. Most of the critics on the movement were focused on aggravated gender disequality generated by the movement. While some disagree, most claim that the movement the implemented a concept of black masculinity, which was extremely assertive and selective. Subsequently, it also used sexist language which excluded women. It is asserted that the Black Power movement was a call to black men and completely ignored the role of women, who thought that the movement was misleading.  Curiously, some claim that the “black gender issue” mirrored the racial issue- woman says that they were oppressed by black men just as black men were oppressed by Whites. Interesting controversy right? 

One of the main assumptions out there is that there exists systematic oppression such as white privilege and male privilege. However, the constitution does not support any form of oppression, thus there are no premises for constitutional or systematic oppression. So what are the premises of oppression? How should society deal with discrimination and oppression?

Link to the TV show: https://www.pbs.org/video/independent-lens-looking-back-at-the-black-power-movement/

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Narconomics: Corporations VS Cartels

The book Freakonomics wrote by the economists Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, has a definition as “A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything”. Such definition coincided with an in-class discussion which a student questioned: “if a smuggler would classify as a businessman and/or entrepreneur”. Based on that inquiry,  I recollected the chapter three of Freakonomics in which the authors compare a street gang organization with corporate monopolies. Thus, it was a direct match with my in-class discussions.

narcos-season-3.jpg (960×640)

(Picture from Netflix “Narcos”)

In short, the book describes the organization of the Black Disciples street gang mirrored the structure of most corporate monopolies. To further my understanding, I read Susan Chandler’s article, Gangs Built on Corporate Mentality from the Chicago Tribune. Both sources agree when comparing the structural organization of the Black Disciple to Mcdonals and Walmart. Their system was incredibly efficient, and the gang was adept at putting the right people in the right jobs, including identifying legitimate business opportunities to launder cash. A lot of these people could have been business leaders if they had chosen to run a legitimate firm instead of a drug cartel. Nevertheless, the similarities go beyond this point. As Tom Wainwright claims, one theory behind the similarities is that the cartels in the area have what economists call a “monopsony.” A monopsony is a monopoly on buying in the area and is often associated with Walmart. In addition, like many large franchises, including McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Walmart itself, the gang members pay fees and “taxes” for the right to sell drugs and for “protection”, while the employee to boss hierarchy in the gang resembles a pyramid. 

At the bottom of the pyramid are the basic jobs; cashiers, burger flippers, and in the case of the Black Disciples, foot soldiers or those who actually sell crack on street corners. Then there is the second base tier. These people are the department managers, who manage specialized jobs. In a corporation, they make sure all the shelves are stocked, and storage rooms organized. They put all the cash from the registers into a safe at night. In the case of the Black Disciples, those employees are known as officers. A officers duty is to make sure that the drug supply and money are delivered to the appropriate people at the appropriate location. They keep the ledgers and books up to date, and they make sure lower level employees stay in line. At the third level of the pyramid is the manager himself or the gang leader. However, even store managers and drug gang leaders have to report to a higher authority. This is the top tier of the pyramid: The directors- or as the Black Disciples call them, the board of directors. These are the ‘hot shots” that truly receive the capital return. Their duty is to run and assist all branches of their franchise and make sure everyone is pulling their own weight and delivering money into the board’s pockets. 

The two “Big Ideas” for this course that emerges through this controversial comparison are complexity and capitalism. The Black Disciples’ operations plan is extremely compound including a pyramid structure for control and even a starting of a genuine business to launder the money. Their pyramid structure has a lot of “do and don’ts” and can be seen everywhere in the business world, as it resembles the organization of governments, schools, big businesses, and drug gangs. When exploring their system to the extreme, Jonathan King said: “I’ve always believed they were run the way IBM should have been run…”  What he said was that their(the gang’s) system would have been beneficial for a multimillion dollar company that had numerous skilled educated professionals working with an experienced board of directors. Why does it work? I understand that it works because it operates on the power of incentivized opportunity and hope. We as citizens or people trying to make the best possible living, see these board members, as the standard goal for how we would like to live. We see their achievements and wealth as our personal end goal. We also have been taught that to get there, you have to start from the bottom.  As children, we are told stories of poor, unfortunate heroes going on quests up in the social ladder until they become princess and kings. How did they get there? Hard, relentless work. A theme that is even echoed in the infamous American dream. The possibility of one day reaching that top tier of the economic pyramid makes us take low paying, 9-5 jobs in the hope that one day, we too will sit on that board of directors.  If you were working at the cashier at Walmart or selling crack on a street corner, your ultimate goal is still the same. It wouldn’t be outrageous to affirm that drug gangs and corporations have great synergy and a high correlation- there was even an annual company picnic for the gang members. In the end, we are just hoping for economic success and a life of comfort.