In the late 1800s, a small group of industrialist titans emerged in America’s economy. They used “ruthless and unethical business tactics to dominate vital industries”, earning them the nickname “robber barons”. This time period is referred to as the Gilded Age.

These men were captains of industry and some of the richest people in history. As noted by Britanica, they:

Made fortunes by monopolizing huge industries through the formation of trusts, engaging in unethical business practices, exploiting workers, and paying little heed to their customers or competition.

They had names you might recognize, such as:

• JP Morgan (finance)

• Cornelius Vanderbuilt (steamboats and railroads)

• Andrew Carnegie (steel)

• Jay Gould (railroads and financial speculation)

• John D. Rockefeller (oil)

By some measures, Carnegie and Rockefeller’s wealth reached almost $400 billion - each. While many recognize these names for their philanthropy, they accumulated their wealth by taking, not giving.

The New Gilded Age

For all the faults of the robber barons of 150 years ago, those were the good old days.

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We are currently in a new Gilded Age. And today’s robber barons are much more powerful and destructive than the barons of yesteryear. They are driving the largest transfer of wealth in history. A transfer that drains power from regular folks and accumulates it in the hands of a powerful few. While you might recognize the names of some of today’s robber barons, much of this is being orchestrated by global elites who often fly under the radar.   

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While this transfer of wealth is about much more than money, that’s an obvious place to start.

Transferring Wealth From “The Forgotten Man” to Davos Man

Think about this for a second. The wealth of the world’s 10 richest men doubled during the COVID pandemic. Doubled.

While “non-essential” businesses were shut down, Amazon and Walmart kept humming. While unemployment skyrocketed, Alphabet (Google) and Meta (Facebook) did just fine. As a result, the likes of Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, and Mark Zuckerberg cleaned up. And Elon Musk? His wealth increased by 10x.

Meanwhile, the number of employed Americans has only recently reached pre-pandemic levels. After 2 ½ years and $6 trillion in stimulus spending. After adding one million people to our population (not counting illegal immigration). After all that, Main Streeters are back to square one.

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Worse news is that 40% of small businesses don’t have enough money to pay rent. Those are Main Streeters serving their communities and trying to build a future for themselves.

About ½ of those businesses are minority owned.

It’s tragic. If these businesses can’t pay rent now, it means they soon won’t be able to pay employees. Many of those businesses won’t survive.

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But have no fear . . . Walmart had unexpectedly good earnings last quarter. As one analyst put it, Walmart will “remain a leader and market share gainer”.

Small businesses lose. Walmart gains. It’s the perfect microcosm of the wealth transfer from the common man to the elite.  

Then there’s the ravages of runaway inflation and a worsening recession. These erode our income and eat away our savings.

For example, look at real hourly earnings (i.e. earnings when taking inflation into account). After four years of being positive, real hourly earnings went heavily negative in early 2021 and have remained negative since. (Hmm, seems like something else shifted in early 2021 as well. Never mind, nothing to see here.)

These types of economic conditions further consolidate power into the hands of the elites. Remember that big business elites have the financial strength to weather economic storms and outlast smaller competitors. If they fail at all that, they can probably expect a bailout.

That’s why they can flippantly declare inflation and recession as “transitory.” It is, for them. The biggest US corporations are sitting on a huge pile of cash. While down slightly from 2021, cash balances are well above the record highs set before the pandemic. Big business will come out on the other side of our current recession ready to buy up the wreckage and cash in on the rebound.

Meanwhile, on Main Street there are real people fighting for real dreams. A chance at their version of the American dream, where they can live a free and full life - and make a better life for their kids.

The Price of “Progress”

There’s something interesting about the Gilded Age of the late 1800s that we can’t deny. It was a time of rapidly increasing prosperity and quality of life. Advances in communications, transportation, and production created the industrial revolution that formed the basis of America’s economic boom in the early 1900s. Many Americans benefited from this boom.

But at what cost? Do we have to accept monopolization of industries to see increases in quality of life? Do we have to tolerate predatory business and exploitation of the Producing Class to have economic growth?

Previous generations didn’t think so. Senator Josh Hawley discusses this in his book The Tyranny of Big Tech. Hawley writes:  

In Theodore Roosevelt’s day, a great many Americans resisted the ambitions of the corporate barons in the name of liberty. They remembered an older tradition associated with the American founders and ascendent in the first century of American life . . . . this tradition emphasized the power of the common man and woman and their stake in self-government. It was sometimes called republicanism.

This was a time when a handful of men controlled a massive chunk of America’s GDP and owned much of the core infrastructure that drove our economy. These men had the ear – and the pocketbook – of many powerful politicians. And they could crush competitors at will, when they weren’t busy trying to crush each other and achieve ultimate dominance.

However, earnest people came forward to promote core American ideals. Hawley continues:

Republicanism favored an economy of independent producers and advocated policies to sustain a broad laboring class as the dominant influence in the nation . . . It proclaimed working people as the best of citizens. And this tradition insisted that liberty was directly connected to the common citizen’s ability to participate in his government, to have a say in politics and society.

As citizens and some brave leaders – including Teddy Roosevelt - pursued these ideals, the robber barons were tamed and their monopolies broken up.

We are in a similar situation today. Big business, big tech, and big government work together to accumulate power for themselves and their elite friends. Facing that kind of power sometimes makes it hard to know where to start.

Here’s a good place to start. Remember our ideals, including:  

• Family, faith, and freedom

• Equality and opportunity for the common men and women of the Producing Class

• Care Capitalism over Soulless Capitalism

As mentioned by Martin Luther King Jr., you don’t have to see the whole staircase to take the first step.

Remembering our ideals is the first step.

This is the way.

-Jeff and Luke