Several powerful business tycoons, including Andrew Carnegie, JP Morgan, John Rockefeller, and Cornelius Vanderbilt, emerged during the 19th century. Andrew Carnegie, who came from a poor family, built a rich and powerful fortune as an investor in the steel industry, which he realized that was something worthwhile investing in. For JP Morgan, banking and accounting as a finance capitalist allowed him to realize the positive economic outcomes that would come from his control over money and the ability to be gaining control over wide range of industries; this allowed him to have power over 1/3 of the railroad and shipping companies. As a result of Morgan's immense influence over money, this led to him possessing undeniable control over everything, which led to the growth of the economy. Morgan's power was the ultimate driving force behind the vast improvement of the nation's economic system. Another business leader, Cornelius Vanderbilt, gained the reputation as a hard-working sailor at a young age. Vanderbilt’s dedicated work ethics paid off; he was a powerful steamship operator, and when he realized that the railroad industry was on the verge of taking over the steamship industry, he invested money in railroads and ensuring that the companies provided quality customer service. Rockefeller, who, like Carnegie, also came from a harsh childhood, yet he had a drive for wealth and power, which eventually led to the establishment of his unbeatable oil refinery empire.
Not only were these leaders contributing to the advancement of society by developing and re-enhancing innovations with their immense amount of power, but also they used their wealth to make the nation a more advanced place. For instance, Vanderbilt used some of his profits to expand his railroad systems, which in the end, helped to bring people from different parts of the country together. Carnegie opened up libraries new centers of learning, which stemmed from a value he emphasized most, knowledge, and how he cared about the importance of people being educated.
However, the fact that these businessmen had too much money brought along several conflicts in the economy and the nation’s people. When Carnegie was running his factories, he put his workers under unpleasant working conditions such as giving employees low pay even if they were forced to work for long hours, and this angered the employees to a point where they started a factory strike. Another instance of abusing wealth was when JP Morgan decided to use his wealth to start taking control over other industries, this instilled a sense of fear in many Americans because they were shocked of the overwhelming amount of power that he had had.
Personally, I believe that their excessive wealth was a negative factor because society was less democratic. Their excess of wealth meant an excess of power, power that sometimes could override the federal government. By pushing innovations, they were taking advantage the laboring classes for the same amount of work. Acts have been passed that gradually improved the urban workers' rights, but even today, there are billionaires who pay little taxes and pocket most of their money instead of donating it.
ReplyDeleteI like how you gave a brief summary of each person and also how you gave both sides to the argument for and against excessive wealth. I think that having an excessive amount of money is bad if one doesn't do anything meaningful with it, but for the most part, all four of the men you mentioned did something good with their wealth. Even though JP Morgan used his wealth to take over entire industries (something that may be seen as bad), he saved the US economy from collapse on two occasions. Also, even though Carnegie paid his workers low wages and made them work long hours, he gave 90% of his wealth back to charities and built long lasting libraries. Thus, these two men, while bad in some respects, did important things with their money and helped society.
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