The Robber Barons Never Left

They simply traded railroads and oil wells for algorithms, data, and political influence.

Elon Musk | Jeff Bezos \ Andrew Carnegie | John D. Rockefeller

America’s original robber barons were not defeated—they evolved. Today’s technology oligarchs wield economic and political power on a scale their predecessors could scarcely imagine, aided by a government and judiciary increasingly willing to accommodate concentrated wealth rather than restrain it.

A broad historical pattern emerges when we look at the disruptive, in ways both good and bad, of the sudden growth of new methodologies in the private sector. Periods of explosive economic growth of one kind or another, stretching from the late eighteenth century through the twentieth and into the twenty-first century, were all followed by respective concentrations of enormous private wealth and influence. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, it was the growth of the railroads. They changed the nation in sweeping ways that benefited the nation as a whole. In the early to mid 20th century, it was the birth of consolidated industrial might, again largely benefiting the middle class as well as those who brought them. And in the 21st century our own revolution has been in the areas of technology, information, and digital platforms that have altered the lives to some degree of nearly every human being on planet earth, with few limitations imposed by geography and government.

Then…

The original Robber Barons, Rockefeller, Morgan, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, and others, laid the groundwork for a system that developed into a massive, powerful, and encircling grip on the nation’s emerging economic constellation, a means to do big business, create wealth for some, and raise living standards for millions of others. It lasted well into the 20th century and became the basis for the historic corruption of the Warren G. Harding era, only a hundred years ago, and it remains the historic benchmark for American corruption and voracious trusts. All the negative side effects of the Barons’ new industrial world provided the formula for the future oligarchic plutocracy. Standard Oil, US Steel and JP Morgan’s railroads were the behemoths of the era. As the monsters grew and prospered, they did so without legal correction, interference, or political resistance.

Each of these rampaging new industrializations grew faster than they could be controlled, and it resulted in very little, if any, federal oversight. It came first at the hands of Teddy Roosevelt and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, then more trust-busting under William Howard Taft’s administration. To make matters worse, the courts frequently sided with big business, prioritizing their interests above those of working citizens. Any of this sound familiar?

…and Now

In our 21st-century contemporary cycle of the nation’s pattern of explosive growth in one or another new area of industrialization, it is for us the digital platforms you and your families know well, the monarchs of entertainment, social media, and technology development. They are all stitched together by an infectious and self-regenerative AI, the tools and playthings of the new Robber Barons. We are living with American Plutocrat/Oligarchs who gather together under White House auspices to collectively seed greed from one end of the country to the other.

They do so with the connivance and active participation of the US Government in the person of the president, several cabinet officers, a smattering of members of Congress, and Trump orbital players. And last but certainly not least, this broad and influential coalition of the most powerful interested public and private parties is enjoying the support of a majority of like-minded Supreme Court Justices.

To sum up, the three key elements of the last century’s cycle of economic advancement, one that spun with civil turmoil in each case, are:

(1) episodic and sweeping advances in American industrialization and its consequential concentration of wealth and political power,

(2) the laissez-faire if not outright collaborative attitude of the federal government in the face of a gathering council of new commercial Caesars, and

(3) a Supreme Court that has been packed with enough of those who would cohabitate comfortably with the new Barons.

History here is not just rhyming; it is repeating itself, with precious few differences from its antecedents other than arriving in the enhanced finery of the age.

This repeating sequence of events seems inarguably bred into the American collective gene. It makes both the soup of economic progress and better lives for millions of Americans and others around the world, and concomitantly produces its own toxins, a harm which could be but is often not controlled as a result of dismissed norms and decaying institutions. Our 21st Century version of this apparently inherited malady is worse than the others because it has a conspiratorial nature to it, successfully co-opting the forces of good and neutralizing them.

The Future

Standing apart from this are the American people. There are many of them, there are streets for them to assemble on throughout the country, and there is courage amassing among them.

William R. Piekney served as US Naval officer for four years and served in the CIA for 30 years in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He was under deep cover early in his career and later was station chief numerous times, including West Africa, Pakistan and Egypt. As a member of the Senior Executive Service he directed the Agency’s African operations and then East Asia operations, traveling extensively to those regions to maintain and develop relations with host intelligence and security services. Overall he has spent nearly fifty years in the U.S. Intelligence Community and in related national security affairs. He is a member of The Steady State.

Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 400 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.