[TeenagedConservative]

I love this book and have read it at least 5 times. It is pivotal book that converted me to conservatism.

[piytar]

AWESOME piece. Definitely going to buy the book! Thanks for posting it.

[Jaysun]

I hate Liberals. I hate liars. I hate idiots. I hate those that bash Wal-Mart - all are one and the same.

[Lurker]

Posts like this are the reason I still hang out here.

Thanks very much.

L

[Paleo Conservative]

Vanderbilt worked in direct competition with Fulton, charging lower rates as his boats raced from Elizabeth, New Jersey, to New York City; to underscore the challenge to Fulton's monopoly, Vanderbilt flew a flag on his boats that read NEW JERSEY MUST BE FREE. Slowly he was breaking down the Fulton monopoly, which which the US Supreme Court finally ended in 1824, ruling in Gibbons v. Ogden that only the federal government, not the states, could regulate interstate trade under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.

Sounds like Vanderbilt ran the 19th century version of Southwest Airlines. The only thing missing is young female flight attendants in hot pants.

[T.L.Sink]

One thing that's perpetuated the myth of the diabolical capitalist Robber Baron is a book of that very title by Matthew Josephson - required reading for decades in many colleges.

This despite the fact that the book is the product of very poor research, is extremely tendentious, and more polemic than historical truth.

Would you believe the damn thing is still in print!!?? It's depressing to think that this single work has given so many their only (mis)understanding of capitalism in that time frame.

[Bigun]

Sheds new light on that trust busting progressive icon Theodore Roosevelt doesn’t it!