Monopoly and Muckraking

Gary Gerstle talks about the journalist who brought down a business empire, when Ida Tarbell went after the power of John D Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Corporation at the start of the twentieth century. Could anyone do the same to Facebook or Amazon today? Talking Points:  America’s foundational myth is about rebelling against monopolies: a monopoly of power in the hands of the King.  - How does an anti-monopolistic society get dominated by monopolies? - Industrialization and the free economic environment after the Civil War created different conditions.  - The Supreme Court interpreted the 14th amendment to mean that corporations are individuals and therefore protected by the Bill of Rights. Resistance to monopolies reached a peak during the first Gilded Age. - Some of the resistance was political, but some of it was journalistic. - Journalists known as ‘muckrakers’ sought to expose the practices that produced extraordinary power. - The reports of journalist Ida Tarbell ultimately led to the breakup of Standard Oil of Ohio. - Journalism set the tone for the progressive reform movement. The election of 1912 was about what to do about the trusts/monopolies. - Debs wanted to nationalize them; Wilson wanted to break them up; Roosvevelt said regulate them; only Taft carried take a stand. - Roosevelt’s approach ultimately carried the day. What can the past tell us about today?  - Warren is carrying forward the breakup agenda. - Previous anti-monopoly movements took a long time; don’t expect much too quickly. - But the sentiments haven’t gone away. And the forces that Warren and Sanders have unleashed will continue to percolate. Mentioned in this Episode:  - Dark Money by Jane Mayer Further Learning:  - More on Ida Tarbell - A Talking Politics Guide to … the Gilded Age - More on Elizabeth Warren’s plan to break up big tech And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: lrb.co.uk/talking For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy