GILDED AGE

Causes/Problems Industrialization Huge growth of business and technology change America/World Railroads, telephone, electricity, oil, typewriter, ice New business leads to new business tactics

Robber Barons/Captains of Industry A few men who monopolized (total control) major industry John D. Rockefeller Standard Oil Company Worth $2,000,000,000 in 1900 Andrew Carnegie Steel Company Witnessed the Bessemer Process: produced iron into steel for railroads (3 to 5 tons a day > 3 to 5 tons in 15 minutes) Sold for $492,000,000 in 1900 JP Morgan Banks, stocks, bonds, US Steel Worth $150,000,000 in 1900

Robber Barons/Captains of Industry Unethical business tactics, poor wages and conditions for workers Monopolies Millions for donations – foundations, libraries, colleges, scholarships Capitalism

Monopolies Monopoly: (definition) *Justified by Social Darwinism: -survival of the fittest ex: John Rockefeller: controlled 90% of oil How? -rebates (rr) -sold below cost *Impact??? ex: Andrew Carnegie – Steel

Vertical & Horizontal Integration

America’s Richest 1918 1. John D. Rockefeller Oil (controlled 90%) 2. HC Frick Steel 3. Andrew Carnegie Steel 4. George Baker Banking 5. William Rockefeller Oil 6. Edward Harkness Oil 7. J. Ogden Armour Meatpacking 8. Henry Ford Autos 9. William Vanderbilt Railroads 10. Edward Green Inheritance

America’s Richest 2017 1. Bill Gates Microsoft $86 Billion 2. Warren Buffet Investing $76 Billion 3. Jeff Bezos Amazon $73 Billion 4. Mark Zuckerberg Facebook $56 Billion 5. Larry Ellison Oracle $52 Billion 6. Charles Koch diversified $48 Billion 6. David Koch diversified $48 Billion 8. Michael Bloomberg media/data $48 Billion 9. Larry Page Google $41 Billion 10. Sergy Brin Google $40 Billion 11-13: Waltons WalMart $33-34 Billion

America’s wealthiest as a percentage of US Economy Rockefeller Oil 1.53% Vanderbilt Railroads 1.15% Carnegie Steel .6% Gates Computers .58% TOTAL WEALTH Bill Gates Computers $ 87 Billion Rockefeller Oil $336 Billion Andrew Carnegie Steel $310 Billion

Modern Monopolies? “The difference between John D. Rockefeller and Bill Gates is that Gates recognizes no boundaries to his monopolistic drive.” –Ralph Nader, Consumer Advocate -MS currently controls about 75% of the market share “You can compete with Microsoft, you just have to build better products.” –Pete Peterson, President WordPerfect -WordPerfect is no longer available for purchase “This kind of product-forcing is an abuse of monopoly power-and we will seek to put an end to it.” – Joel Klein, Assistant Attorney General, Anti-Trust division. “We don’t even remember what the Internet looked like before Google came onto the scene. Thanks to their secret algorithm, they control 67% of the web search market.” @toptenz Social Media is a market most of us have never considered ripe for a monopoly, but over 71% of adults use Facebook.

Is all fair in business? Stand under the number that aligns with how much you agree/disagree with the statement. 1= totally disagree 10= totally agree A business can do anything that is not against the law. It is fair for a business to give discounts to regular customers. Owners should lay off employees when profits drop. Owners should lay off employees if they can find workers who will work for lower wages. The goal of business is to make as much money as possible. It is the government’s job to regulate business activities. A business that can afford to do so should be allowed to undersell its competitors, even if that drives them out of business.