How the Myth of the 'Robber Barons' Began—and Why It Persists
This guy gets it wrong but if you are old, (and hopefully not ugly) you'll remember the old westerns and cartoons of the time that always showed a Senator behind the corrupt ruse to steal land via threats and murder, for the railroads. They were the robber barons. We all knew it was the government.
"First, E. K. Collins was never the head of the Pacific Mail Steamship Line; in fact, he had no connection with it at all. Second, Vanderbilt and William H. Aspinwall, the actual head of the Pacific Mail Steamship Line, were never “blackmailing each other.” Third, the Pacific Mail Steamship Line, not Vanderbilt, was the “chief plunderer.” Vanderbilt had no subsidy, and the Pacific Line did. In fact, Vanderbilt, through his low prices, exposed the federal subsidy as a scandal."
"Perhaps more important than all of the errors, Josephson missed the distinction between market entrepreneurs like Vanderbilt, Hill, and Rockefeller and political entrepreneurs like Collins, Villard, and Gould. He lumped them all together."
"First, E. K. Collins was never the head of the Pacific Mail Steamship Line; in fact, he had no connection with it at all. Second, Vanderbilt and William H. Aspinwall, the actual head of the Pacific Mail Steamship Line, were never “blackmailing each other.” Third, the Pacific Mail Steamship Line, not Vanderbilt, was the “chief plunderer.” Vanderbilt had no subsidy, and the Pacific Line did. In fact, Vanderbilt, through his low prices, exposed the federal subsidy as a scandal."
"Perhaps more important than all of the errors, Josephson missed the distinction between market entrepreneurs like Vanderbilt, Hill, and Rockefeller and political entrepreneurs like Collins, Villard, and Gould. He lumped them all together."
Guess in the cartoon all those clerks (or whatever they are) in front of all those fat cat "robber barons" did not appreciate the regular paydays they may not have otherwise had.
Did you notice the article at the bottom?
https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/b...
Chicago has an average 15 students per teacher - yet the rhetoric is different. People believe what they want to believe and government seems to always be the answer.