Foundation for Economic Education
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 3 months, 2014–2020
1:05:28 · 40K views · Jul 5, 2011
Hillsdale historian Burt Folsom lectures at a 2011 seminar on the 'robber barons' of the Gilded Age. He argues that figures like Vanderbilt and Rockefeller were market entrepreneurs rather than monopolists.
HN people offer it as a free-market counterpoint to the standard robber baron narrative.
3 comments from Hacker News
Sigh. Ideologues drinking and re-drinking their own bathwater. The thesis of this article is nearly opposite of the truth. Capitalism -- the kind we have evolved (call it socio-crony-capitalism) -- has badly wounded free markets. Here's at least a bit of an antidote: this video
Recently I have really enjoyed: * Joseph Stiglitz on the introduction of informational mechanisms in Economics [1] * Burton Folsom on the myth of robber barons and the great american entrepreneurs of the 19th century. [1] [LINK] [2] this video
You might get something out of this article: [LINK] If " Capitalism in America means as close to monopolization and price gouging as possible. " is your definition of capitalism, then you're off. (And I think that may be why you're being disagreed/downvoted on.) If you think that monopolization and price gouging is an emergent property of capitalism in America-- well, then, I wanna see some citations. My (radical, libertarian) view that a free market would only leads to monopolies when they're _market monopolies_-- meaning they've already providing the best service, and will continue to do so. The really damaging monopolies only ever come from government-granted powers. this video