Robber Barons Or Captain Of Industry

Captains of Industry or Robber Barons

In the gilded age (c. 1870-1900), "robber barons" were men who acquired fortune by ruthless means Half of the main business leaders were robber barons, which were Vanderbilt, Donald Trump, and Andrew Carnegie. There are also leaders called "captains of industry", who consisted of leaders like Rockefeller, J. Morgan, and also Bill Gates. Captains of industry worked hard and actually helped the economy instead of robber barons who insisted on achieving wealth by being ruthless businessman.

Leaders of the last century where the building blocks of the Industrial Revolution. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Vanderbilt, and JP Morgan where the four main leaders in that time period. In the current time period,

there are two that come to mind, Bill Gates and Donald Trump. These six leaders are classified into two groups, "captains of industry" and "robber barons". Captains of industry are business leaders whose means of amassing a personal fortune contributed positively to the country in someway. The leaders that fall into this group are Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, and Bill Gates because of the way that they contributed to the country. Starting off with all the captains of industry, Rockefeller was the first American billionaire and his company. The standard oil trust, controlled 90% of the oil refinery business in 1881. By eliminating waste reduction, monopolies were able to keep prices low for consumers. In his retirement, Rockefeller's fortune amounted to $900 million. Secondly, J.P. Morgan, who was in charge of consolidations and mergers. He dominated the corporate finance and the industrial consolidation arena. Also, he had financial investments in many large corporations. Lastly in this time period, Bill Gates made a huge impact on the country by co-founding Microsoft and being a computer programmer. Gates was wealthiest from 1995 to 2014, including a few years after the financial crisis of 2007/2008. Gates also held the positions of chairman, CEO and chief software architect, and was the largest individual shareholder until May 2014. Gates has also authored and co-authored several books.

However the other half of the leaders in the industrial revolution, were robber barons. These leaders were Andrew Carnegie, Vanderbilt, and Donald Trump. First off, Andrew Carnegie was the steel industry robber baron. In the 1850s, Henry Bessemer discovered a process for producing high-quality steel; The Great Lakes region with its abundant call reserves and access to iron ore emerged as leading steel producer. Carnegie, in the 1870s, started manufacturing steel in Pittsburgh. However Carnegie sold his company in 1900 for over $400 million to a new steel combo headed by J.P. Morgan. Vanderbilt, the railroad industry robber baron, had the first big business of the nation which was the railroad. After the Civil War, railroad mileage increased more than fivefold in a 35 year period. “Commodore” Cornelius Vanderbilt used his millions earned from a steamboat business to merge local railroads into the New York Central Railroad in 1867. Which ran from New York City to Chicago. The last of the robber barons is Donald Trump. He is called a robber baron because he is an unapologetic, old-school robber baron who claims he wants to be president of the United States. By the definition of a robber baron Donald is a 21st-century specimen of a robber baron. He has acquired competitors and even taking out racist advertisements to preserve his near monopoly. He's also a serial bankrupt and has impoverished and bankrupt investors. Robber barons and captains of industry played a big role in the industrial revolution and had the most important industrialized inventions that are greatly appreciated in today's time period.