On February 25, 1901, financier J. P. Morgan’s men filed the paperwork to incorporate a new iron and steel trust, and over the weekend, businessmen waited to see what was coming. Five days later, on March 2, the announcement came: J. P. Morgan was overseeing the combination of companies that produced two thirds of the nation’s steel into the United States Steel Corporation. It was capitalized at $1.4 billion, which at the time was almost three times more than the federal government’s annual budget.
Among the things Roosevelt said that have been mostly forgotten, this is a gem:
“The citizens of the United States must effectively control the mighty commercial forces which they have called into being,” he said.
We tend to forget that we created corporations.
Another gem:
“ He warned that “[t]here can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains…. We must have complete and effective publicity of corporate affairs, so that the people may know…whether the corporations obey the law and whether their management entitles them to the confidence of the public.”
Their political activity. That means Citizens United has to go.
Publicity of corporate affairs. That means shell corporations, offshore headquarters, and more.
Many of us seem to have forgotten that “[t]he object of government is the welfare of the people.” Many seem to believe that providing for the welfare of one individual has become our sole concern. We, the people, must defeat those who negate the public interest, who place profits above people. Proposed outsized grocery store mergers today do no more to help the average shopper than did the mergers of steel companies or railroads in Roosevelt's time. The need for transparency, not just in the corporate world, but also in government, is even more essential now. It is up to us to make sure that we elect truth-tellers who place the greater good above their own personal desire for power. Voting is the most powerful tool that the people possess. We must use it wisely.
When the media reported on the list of presidents it was without guile as if these people have the right to determine this. If I had drawn up the list of presidents from best to worst I would not have put Reagan above Biden, he would be more towards the bottom.
I also would not have put Obama above Biden. I would not have put George Washington above Biden. I would have put Theodore Roosevelt above George Washington too. Biden is the best president in my lifetime, and so much of that is because of his social economic agenda, which puts the people first. His is a more inclusive government than was Roosevelt's though. In fact, if inclusivity were a criteria then Biden should go to the top. He saved our economy from Covid, not small feat. Got our supply chains working again. Started evaluating who we are doing business with. Is funding education which is the underpinning of a modern economy, and makes it about the environment. So, if I were to say who was the better president it would have to be Biden. Under him Native Americans are included in the agenda, in a greater way than they have been by any President. Reagan is the person most responsible for global warming, which is destroying life on the planet. He also destroyed our economy and Biden is the first president to eschew "trickle down" and right our economy from that piece of fallacy. I was just discussing with friends how crazy it is that Red States governors turn down federal monies for their people for things like health care. Why would they do that? It is crazy and bad governance. Also, why do people vote for them? Biden is doing things in a bipartisan way, and was even when he had a majority in both houses, which is important, even though the Republican Party has totally sold out to Trump, who would go with Reagan at the bottom of the list because they are so damaging for the environment globally. I guess people that vote for Trump do not realize that they need clean air to breath, clean water to drink, safe foods to eat, and a climate that does not lead to devastation such as fires, floods, drought, too much heat. We need a government that helps families out with raising and educating their children. It is not rocket science to understand that, but it seems beyond many people's ken to understand that. I am glad that under Biden antitrust law is actually being used to block many deals. Now we also need courts that do not rule for business as a person, like a clump of frozen cells, conservative Republicans justices have given personhood where it does not exist, all to line their pockets.
Super Tuesday is your chance to send a message to the bully ( not Teddy’s kind of bully) that Americans want a president who believes in peace and freedom and democracy not a selfish nasty greedy manbaby. Voter turnout in every election in a democracy should be close to 90% not 9%. Please do your part and vote Tuesday in your super state. Take your mail in ballot to an official box. Your state or city website will give you details. 💙💙🇺🇸🥳💙💙
Ever since I read TR's biography he is my hero. Corporations today are not guided by his principle, but instead, what will produce the most wealth for stockholders, which is often executives and corporate board members. Yesterday Andrew Carnegie was in HCR'S spotlight, and we do appreciate the libraries, though many are now under fire for having books. But the billionaires are there because they accumulate. And then rarely give away. Bill Gates is an exception, so was Paul Allen, and his sister does a good job giving away his fortune since his death. Some people, like Bezos's ex wife, are in that group. The woman who gave a billion dollars for the Einstein med center and med school is in that group.
Children in the early 20th century in Chicago as part of their education were required to study “the Wacker Manual” which promoted the development of the famous Burnham Plan that projected the infrastructure to make a healthy city. A quote from this manual “our children shall be taught that they are the coming responsible heads of their various communities… We direct the national patriotic impulse into the paths of duty, and it is vital that we do the same with the new impulse for civic good." Part of the education in grade school was to teach children their responsibility to the greater community. Not only is that lacking in big business today but also politics. The manual did not distinguish those of different races, religion or political leanings. Everyone was part of a community and as quoted above supported the principle that government worked for the welfare of the people. Thank you Heather for this well timed letter. Vote for Biden!!!!!!
Today we have virtual monopolies in industries from baby formula to railroads to meat packing. Biden opened up the baby formula market by working with the FDA to license baby formula made in Europe that met all FDA standards except labeling templates.
We need to, just as President Teddy Roosevelt did, revisit the anti-monopoly laws and update them for today’s market.
Piquant how today's letter "from an American" cites long-ago Republicans as key to "a square deal."
The difference between then and now?
Back then Americans had a healthy, strong, and affordable system of public colleges and universities. We can thank the Justin Morrill land grant legislation Lincoln signed into law in 1862. We can thank the appetites Americans overwhelmingly had (at least outside the slave states) for literacy.
Compare that to today, long after the Powell memo of 1971 sank American higher education into the neutered silo culture now long reigning. Neutered because no one in any department uses any humanities outside each departmental narrowness. Silo culture because group identity no longer has individual people, as group identity, group packaging, group slogans have turned all into units, each replicating each other by the stereotypes tyrant HR deems orthodox for each group.
Good, though, to see Heather Cox Richardson remembering a far different time, when humanities roamed wider, literacy higher, so even Republicans could uphold standards where the federal government and the rule of law could and did protect people as if all might have personal lives evident, too, in humanities of all, by all, and for all.
The history lesson above is well taken and it seems obvious, then as now, that a strong government committed to the welfare of the nation, perhaps even the world, is the only possible foil to use against the power of Big Business. I find it interesting that Dr. Richardson did not mentioned the latest dodge Business has created to cloud the transparency that Roosevelt demanded -- private equity firms, who keep their processes secret and, as of 2021, own up to 20% of all U.S. companies, up from 4% in 2000. (Karma, Roge; The Atlantic, October 30, 2023.) I assume she was leaving it as an exercise for the reader.
The rapid rise of private equity enterprises will lead to similar abuses. While they currently operate in narrow market sectors, they’re having significant impact; rental housing, and private medical practices are just two I see. They will create a lot of low-level economic damage before they too are reined-in.
Among the things Roosevelt said that have been mostly forgotten, this is a gem:
“The citizens of the United States must effectively control the mighty commercial forces which they have called into being,” he said.
We tend to forget that we created corporations.
Another gem:
“ He warned that “[t]here can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains…. We must have complete and effective publicity of corporate affairs, so that the people may know…whether the corporations obey the law and whether their management entitles them to the confidence of the public.”
Their political activity. That means Citizens United has to go.
Publicity of corporate affairs. That means shell corporations, offshore headquarters, and more.
Great quotes, Professor! Thank you!
Many of us seem to have forgotten that “[t]he object of government is the welfare of the people.” Many seem to believe that providing for the welfare of one individual has become our sole concern. We, the people, must defeat those who negate the public interest, who place profits above people. Proposed outsized grocery store mergers today do no more to help the average shopper than did the mergers of steel companies or railroads in Roosevelt's time. The need for transparency, not just in the corporate world, but also in government, is even more essential now. It is up to us to make sure that we elect truth-tellers who place the greater good above their own personal desire for power. Voting is the most powerful tool that the people possess. We must use it wisely.
How quickly we forget where we've been. Thanks for reminding us.
When the media reported on the list of presidents it was without guile as if these people have the right to determine this. If I had drawn up the list of presidents from best to worst I would not have put Reagan above Biden, he would be more towards the bottom.
https://www.c-span.org/presidentsurvey2021/?page=overall
I also would not have put Obama above Biden. I would not have put George Washington above Biden. I would have put Theodore Roosevelt above George Washington too. Biden is the best president in my lifetime, and so much of that is because of his social economic agenda, which puts the people first. His is a more inclusive government than was Roosevelt's though. In fact, if inclusivity were a criteria then Biden should go to the top. He saved our economy from Covid, not small feat. Got our supply chains working again. Started evaluating who we are doing business with. Is funding education which is the underpinning of a modern economy, and makes it about the environment. So, if I were to say who was the better president it would have to be Biden. Under him Native Americans are included in the agenda, in a greater way than they have been by any President. Reagan is the person most responsible for global warming, which is destroying life on the planet. He also destroyed our economy and Biden is the first president to eschew "trickle down" and right our economy from that piece of fallacy. I was just discussing with friends how crazy it is that Red States governors turn down federal monies for their people for things like health care. Why would they do that? It is crazy and bad governance. Also, why do people vote for them? Biden is doing things in a bipartisan way, and was even when he had a majority in both houses, which is important, even though the Republican Party has totally sold out to Trump, who would go with Reagan at the bottom of the list because they are so damaging for the environment globally. I guess people that vote for Trump do not realize that they need clean air to breath, clean water to drink, safe foods to eat, and a climate that does not lead to devastation such as fires, floods, drought, too much heat. We need a government that helps families out with raising and educating their children. It is not rocket science to understand that, but it seems beyond many people's ken to understand that. I am glad that under Biden antitrust law is actually being used to block many deals. Now we also need courts that do not rule for business as a person, like a clump of frozen cells, conservative Republicans justices have given personhood where it does not exist, all to line their pockets.
Super Tuesday is your chance to send a message to the bully ( not Teddy’s kind of bully) that Americans want a president who believes in peace and freedom and democracy not a selfish nasty greedy manbaby. Voter turnout in every election in a democracy should be close to 90% not 9%. Please do your part and vote Tuesday in your super state. Take your mail in ballot to an official box. Your state or city website will give you details. 💙💙🇺🇸🥳💙💙
Ever since I read TR's biography he is my hero. Corporations today are not guided by his principle, but instead, what will produce the most wealth for stockholders, which is often executives and corporate board members. Yesterday Andrew Carnegie was in HCR'S spotlight, and we do appreciate the libraries, though many are now under fire for having books. But the billionaires are there because they accumulate. And then rarely give away. Bill Gates is an exception, so was Paul Allen, and his sister does a good job giving away his fortune since his death. Some people, like Bezos's ex wife, are in that group. The woman who gave a billion dollars for the Einstein med center and med school is in that group.
And then there's Boeing...and Trump....
Redolent of so much going on in this current climate. Wonderful history to remind us to do our best not to repeat it.
RBG was right, Citizens United was one of the worst decisions the SCOTUS ever made. Maybe soon it can be reversed, just as Roe V. Wade was reversed.
I read somewhere that what we learn from history is that we do not learn from history.smh
Children in the early 20th century in Chicago as part of their education were required to study “the Wacker Manual” which promoted the development of the famous Burnham Plan that projected the infrastructure to make a healthy city. A quote from this manual “our children shall be taught that they are the coming responsible heads of their various communities… We direct the national patriotic impulse into the paths of duty, and it is vital that we do the same with the new impulse for civic good." Part of the education in grade school was to teach children their responsibility to the greater community. Not only is that lacking in big business today but also politics. The manual did not distinguish those of different races, religion or political leanings. Everyone was part of a community and as quoted above supported the principle that government worked for the welfare of the people. Thank you Heather for this well timed letter. Vote for Biden!!!!!!
Today we have virtual monopolies in industries from baby formula to railroads to meat packing. Biden opened up the baby formula market by working with the FDA to license baby formula made in Europe that met all FDA standards except labeling templates.
We need to, just as President Teddy Roosevelt did, revisit the anti-monopoly laws and update them for today’s market.
Tonight’s history lesson is very timely…
Thank you 💙 🇺🇸
Piquant how today's letter "from an American" cites long-ago Republicans as key to "a square deal."
The difference between then and now?
Back then Americans had a healthy, strong, and affordable system of public colleges and universities. We can thank the Justin Morrill land grant legislation Lincoln signed into law in 1862. We can thank the appetites Americans overwhelmingly had (at least outside the slave states) for literacy.
Compare that to today, long after the Powell memo of 1971 sank American higher education into the neutered silo culture now long reigning. Neutered because no one in any department uses any humanities outside each departmental narrowness. Silo culture because group identity no longer has individual people, as group identity, group packaging, group slogans have turned all into units, each replicating each other by the stereotypes tyrant HR deems orthodox for each group.
Good, though, to see Heather Cox Richardson remembering a far different time, when humanities roamed wider, literacy higher, so even Republicans could uphold standards where the federal government and the rule of law could and did protect people as if all might have personal lives evident, too, in humanities of all, by all, and for all.
The history lesson above is well taken and it seems obvious, then as now, that a strong government committed to the welfare of the nation, perhaps even the world, is the only possible foil to use against the power of Big Business. I find it interesting that Dr. Richardson did not mentioned the latest dodge Business has created to cloud the transparency that Roosevelt demanded -- private equity firms, who keep their processes secret and, as of 2021, own up to 20% of all U.S. companies, up from 4% in 2000. (Karma, Roge; The Atlantic, October 30, 2023.) I assume she was leaving it as an exercise for the reader.
Good lesson Professor ⭐
Thank you and "Bully"
The rapid rise of private equity enterprises will lead to similar abuses. While they currently operate in narrow market sectors, they’re having significant impact; rental housing, and private medical practices are just two I see. They will create a lot of low-level economic damage before they too are reined-in.