During the worse of the robber baron era large corporations threatened democracy by openly controlling state legislatures and many members of Congress. Today Disney Corporation is threatening democracy by using its corporate wealth and influence to control political events in Florida and elsewhere. Since they are avowed biased political players, rational,decent people can and should oppose them. Would decent people be within their constitutional rights if they practiced civil disobedience within Disney’s profit centers? Disney must be fought to preserve democracy.
FRANCH, JOHN, RENEHAN, IR., EDWARD I. D
The time has come for historians of all stripes and persuasions to put behind them the still-persistent “Robber Baton” myth. In the last quarter century the lives of Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and J. P. Morgan have all been reassessed, and on balance they have received a much cleaner bill of health Carnegie always paid his workers more than other steel producers, large and small. Even the wages offered at his Homestead steel mill in 1892 just prior to the infamous strike were higher than those paid at competitive firms.
Long before Bill Gates and Warren Buffet became a philanthropic team, Carnegie and Rockefeller had established endowments that created a for good deeds.
And despite the myths perpetuated by historians in various formats, including PBS documentaries, J. P. Morgan did not control hundreds of major corporations in the early twentieth century. (Morgan owned few common stocks in any enterprise because he considered most equities too risky for himself and the majority of his wealthy clients.)
The Morgan partners who sat on boards of directors were essentially watchdogs looking out for the interests of bondholders and shareholders.
“During the worse of the robber baron era large corporations threatened democracy by openly controlling state legislatures and many members of Congress. “
Ultimately antitrust legislation was passed and the federal government broke up many of the monopolies. It is long past time to use the antitrust legislation to break up the large corporations. The economy will benefit from more competitions and under more intense competition corporations will have to focus on serving customer needs, not promoting social and political agendas of executives.