I often talk about how Teddy Roosevelt is one of my heroes because he broke up many of the robber baron’s empires almost a century ago. But since Teddy was a Republican he had to work inside that organization to accomplish what he did. It took Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat and another one of my heroes, to take Roosevelt’s work and move it to the … Continue reading The Reformers…
With the walloping Republicans gave Democrats in the midterm elections, the GOP stands one Louisiana Senate runoff away from completely controlling Southern politics from the Carolinas to Texas. Only a handful of Democrats hold statewide office in the rest of the Old Confederacy. SOURCE: The South: Solid once again _ for Republicans – Yahoo News. It looks like with this latest election the south has finally … Continue reading How Did The South Become So Republican??
The Republican leaders really didn’t want Roosevelt as President. As a young Bull Moose Republican in politics, TR had angered top GOP honchos by refusing to appoint Republicans to bureaucratic positions. Party bosses Mark Hanna and Thomas Platt were able to “kick Roosevelt upstairs” as the vice presidential nominee in 1900 for the incumbent President, William McKinley. Roosevelt agreed because he was thinking of running … Continue reading Republicans & President Theodore Roosevelt
The people of NYC simple love everything about Teddy Roosevelt. He is truly one of their native-sons. He was the police commissioner there in the late 1800s. To me he is most famous for taking on the “robber barons” of his time. From currently reading is biography I know that Teddy never did anything half way. Too bad President Obama couldn’t have used him as … Continue reading Oh Teddy, My Hero….
There are various complex models for this, but the general explanation is fairly intuitive: Modern economies are built on a mass market. But if the great majority of people don’t have much (or any) disposable income, then there is no mass market, and it’s harder to start a business relying on any kind of mass sales. And with weak consumer spending, existing businesses have little … Continue reading About Inequality…
“You are right there’s been a lot of freeloading, but the freeloading has been by the biggest financial institutions who got bailed out by the American taxpayers, who broke the law and were never held responsible,” Warren said. “Here’s the key part — nobody went to jail for any part of this,” Warren continued. “The only people in America today who go to jail are … Continue reading Freeloading…
I think Teddy Roosevelt was probably my second all-time favorite Republican. Of course Lincoln was number one. If only Mr. Bush had followed in his fellow Republican’s footsteps one hundred years later instead of going to the opposite extreme. Thank you President Roosevelt for taking the bully pulpit as a trust buster for the common good of the people. Continue reading Teddy Roosevelt…
Having grown up in the 1950s and 60s I am very much entrenched in the idea of a middle class society. That is where the average working person got a share of the prosperity of the times. But in looking back at history it now seems apparent to me that the “middle class”, at least as we knew it then probably an anomaly of our times.
The middle class is a result of the Ford model for the economy. That is where the workers are paid a living wage and they would then build a community where they could afford to buy the products they make. We have much to thank Henry Ford for those times. Ford came upon the scenes shortly after the age of the “Robber Barrons”. The barons were Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carniege, JP Morgan, and Fisk. These guys were mostly consumed by their desire for wealth and ruthlessly destroying their competition. They had little respect for the workers they employed. They were a mere tool for their greed for ever increasing wealth. Their employees generally worked six to seven days a week for twelve hours a day. They often got a little than a dollar a day. If you got sick you lost your job. If you died because of an industrial accident your family was pretty much on their own. We learned that this is what you get with unbridled capitalism. Continue reading “The Middle Class….”
For those of you who aren’t up on your U.S. history lessons, John Sherman was the Congressman who about one hundred years ago introduced the first major piece of legislation to rein in corporate greed. The legislation was call the Sherman Antitrust Act. Here is some of what Wikipedia says about that: The Sherman Antitrust Act (Sherman Act,[1] July 2, 1890, ch. 647, 26 Stat. 209, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1–7) is a landmark federal … Continue reading Where Are You John Sherman When We Need You???
During the 1960s and 70s there was a growing middle class in the U.S. This was due to the abundance of manufacturing jobs and gains won by labor unions. Part of the U.S. history that precipitated the emerging middle class was the takedown of the Robber Barons of the early 1900s. The robber barons were basically a group of unscrupulous industrialists. Who controlled pretty much … Continue reading The End of the Middle Class??
RJ's Corner 