AMERICA’S RULING CLASS — AND THE PERILS OF REVOLUTION

The American Spectator ^ | July 2010 - August 2010 Issue TAS | Angelo M. Codevilla

[Pelham]

There was over-investment in railroads going on at the time as well. RRs were a hot investment theme and lot of money from Europe was involved in building them. I’d be curious to know if the East-West RRs that got into trouble were New York to Chicago mainlines or something else. Do you recall which roads they were?

Post Civil War railroad investing is an interesting topic. RRs were the plaything of the great Wall Street tycoons.

[itsahoot]

Bumping this thread in the hopes more Freepers will read the linked article. If more people were exposed to the truths in this article we could maybe stop trying to blame one candidate or the other and recognize that the establishment in total is the cause of our problems. No politician is going to be able to change much.

I am reminded of a statement Beck once made. He said that GW told him he should not worry too much because whomever came into the office would continue on pretty much the same as he had. Not a calming statement.

[LS]

Yes, the specific railroads are in the article: "The Panic of 1857: Origins, Transmission, Containment," Journal of Economic History, December 1991, 807-34. I don't remember 25 years later :)

It depended on what RR was extending westward. The Dred Scott case threw the whole west into turmoil and threatened to turn it all into "Bleeding Kansas." So those roads most likely to be extending further west were the worst hit. No N-S RRs were hurt because their lines were safe from slave/anti-slave turmoil (such as John Brown).

[Pelham]

I was wondering if the weakness had been in the lines extending to the western boundary since those would have been the most speculative. E-W lines between NY and Chi had an economic rationale and their biggest problems were competition. Some of the farther west roads were built on hope and speculation. N-S lines had the Mississippi River as their main rival.

[LS]

Precisely.

[txhurl]

Outstanding bttt

[WashingtonSource]

Angelo, you sage!

[T-Bone Texan]

You are overly optimistic.

There will never be blood in the streets because of blatant democrat voter fraud and the overt stealing of elections.

It has been going on for a long time and the Republicans have accepted it. The only people speaking out are us little people, and it’s too late for us.

We have been disenfranchised.

[ProgressingAmerica]

I wish I could write that well. Codevilla's Ruling Class article has become a timeless work that speaks to just about all of us.