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The Robber Barons: American Heroes | Politically Incorrect Guide to the Industrial Revolution - YouTube
Channel: Capital Research Center
[6]
Sure the Industrial Revolution聽
made the average person better off,聽聽
[10]
but it made the wealthy better off on orders聽
of magnitude that we'd never seen before,聽聽
[15]
even including literal royalty! You had people聽
amassing fortunes bigger than those of small聽聽
[20]
countries and they were effectively above the law,聽
and that's why they're called the robber barons.聽聽
[26]
It's true that some of these people should be聽
criticized because they wanted to use political聽聽
[30]
influence to benefit themselves at the expense聽
of other people, but we have to be fairer as聽聽
[35]
historians than just lumping a whole bunch of聽
people together, calling them a nasty name, and聽聽
[40]
moving on. Because in fact the bulk of these聽
people dramatically improved people's living聽聽
[45]
conditions, including the workers who worked for聽
them, and this is why they became so wealthy.聽聽
[51]
So for example John D Rockefeller in oil refinery聽
took a product that is now the lifeblood of modern聽聽
[57]
economies and made it vastly less expensive.聽
He was able to take the price of kerosene and聽聽
[63]
lower it from a dollar to 10 cents a gallon,聽
a 90 percent decrease. And at the same time he聽聽
[70]
took the byproducts of the refinery process聽
and made 300 products out of those. We read聽聽
[76]
in our textbook about how terrible these people聽
were and they monopolized different industries,聽聽
[81]
and the implication is they could just set prices聽
at whatever level they wanted to. Well when one聽聽
[87]
economic historian, Thomas DiLorenzo, actually聽
bothered to look at the data, what he found was聽聽
[94]
of the 17 industries most commonly accused of聽
being monopolized and for which we have data,聽聽
[100]
15 of them saw prices fall dramatically, falling聽
faster than any other prices in the economy.聽聽
[105]
When people think of Monopoly think of Boardwalk聽
and Park Place, but there's some better examples:聽聽
[109]
Heinz Ketchup, Scotch Tape, Coke, Subway聽Sandwiches. Those are basically monopolies where聽you have
[116]
one company whose name is synonymous with聽
the product that everyone likes and everyone buys.聽聽
[122]
But it's important for those companies to have聽
those products cheap and available even though聽聽
[128]
there are cheaper and more available alternatives聽
because everyone prefers to buy them. No,聽聽
[136]
Pepsi is not okay. Now it's true there were some聽
people in American history who were lobbying聽聽
[142]
government to get special privileges they were聽
going to use to get advantages for themselves聽聽
[146]
at the expense of the rest of us and those聽
people should be condemned. So for example聽聽
[150]
Edward Collins got a government subsidy for his聽
steamship business and he was supposed to provide聽聽
[155]
mail delivery across the Atlantic. He was getting聽
$858,000 a year. Cornelius Vanderbilt comes along聽聽
[162]
in the mid 1850s, he gets no subsidy at all,聽
and he's outperforming Collins both in passenger聽聽
[168]
travel and in mail delivery. So we should admire聽
Cornelius Vanderbilt and criticize Edward Collins聽聽
[175]
but in the 7th grade textbook they're more or less聽
treated the same. You know I mentioned Cornelius聽聽
[179]
Vanderbilt and he was really a heroic figure in聽
some ways because he was dealing with the fact聽聽
[183]
that the governor of New York in 1798 had granted聽
a monopoly on steamboat traffic for 30 years聽聽
[190]
to Robert Livingston and Robert Fulton.聽
Vanderbilt was hired to run a steamboat聽聽
[195]
between New Jersey and Manhattan defying that聽
monopoly, and he managed to evade capture聽聽
[201]
while at the same time charging only one quarter聽
the fare that the monopolists were charging. Well聽聽
[206]
finally the New York steamboat monopoly was聽
overturned, and under Vanderbilt's pressure聽聽
[211]
the fare from a trip from New York City to Albany聽
dropped from seven dollars to three. The trip from聽聽
[217]
New York to Philadelphia which had been three聽
dollars fell to one dollar. if you were going聽聽
[222]
from New Brunswick to Manhattan you paid only six聽
cents and you ate for free. And when he moved his聽聽
[228]
steamboat operation to the Hudson River he charged聽
a fare of 10 cents instead of three dollars,聽聽
[233]
and later he didn't even charge the 10 cents he聽
figured people would probably buy food and drink聽聽
[237]
on board, he'd make his money that way. This is聽
such a cost savings that it means people who could聽聽
[242]
simply not travel before now have basic travel聽
within their grasp. Yeah, if that guy has more聽聽
[248]
money than I do he deserves it, good for him, and聽
for me to pause and resent this for even a moment聽聽
[254]
is ridiculous. I think people have this idea that聽
all these so-called robber barons were like my聽聽
[260]
buddy uncle penny bags over here, but they聽
actually had this very Protestant world view聽聽
[264]
where you acquire money not to have some聽
kind of big Donald Trump golden house,聽聽
[268]
the money is meant to be returned to the community聽
to uplift the general population. Carnegie's a聽聽
[273]
great example of this, he's the one who wanted to聽
make literacy within the reach of the common man.聽聽
[277]
This was a big problem for many of these people聽
which prevent them from getting better jobs,聽聽
[281]
so he endowed libraries all over the place. Most聽
of them took that money and said "hey, I'm going聽聽
[286]
to put it to good use, my legacy isn't going聽
to be kids losing their arms in factories, it's聽聽
[291]
going to be kids not having to work because they聽
have an education and they better themselves."
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