{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/9a03fe9e-1ff0-4dcc-b3f6-50bd1f016ea4/5c200eeb-15c0-4bdf-9aa9-0e19e854677d?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"Monopoly and Muckraking","thumbnail_width":200,"thumbnail_height":200,"thumbnail_url":"https://open-images.acast.com/shows/6195701f2eacc3a36070252a/619570bccb3c660012e3d0a3.png?height=200","description":"<p>Gary Gerstle talks about the journalist who brought down a business empire, when Ida Tarbell went after the power of John D Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Corporation at the start of the twentieth century.&nbsp;Could anyone do the same to Facebook or Amazon today?</p><p><br></p><p>Talking Points:&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>America’s foundational myth is about rebelling against monopolies: a monopoly of power in the hands of the King.&nbsp;</p><ul><li>How does an anti-monopolistic society get dominated by monopolies?</li><li>Industrialization and the free economic environment after the Civil War created different conditions.&nbsp;</li><li>The Supreme Court interpreted the 14th amendment to mean that corporations are individuals and therefore protected by the Bill of Rights.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Resistance to monopolies reached a peak during the first Gilded Age.</p><ul><li>Some of the resistance was political, but some of it was journalistic.</li><li>Journalists known as ‘muckrakers’ sought to expose the practices that produced extraordinary power.</li><li>The reports of journalist Ida Tarbell ultimately led to the breakup of Standard Oil of Ohio.</li><li>Journalism set the tone for the progressive reform movement.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>The election of 1912 was about what to do about the trusts/monopolies.</p><ul><li>Debs wanted to nationalize them; Wilson wanted to break them up; Roosvevelt said regulate them; only Taft carried take a stand.</li><li>Roosevelt’s approach ultimately carried the day.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>What can the past tell us about today?&nbsp;</p><ul><li>Warren is carrying forward the breakup agenda.</li><li>Previous anti-monopoly movements took a long time; don’t expect much too quickly.</li><li>But the sentiments haven’t gone away. And the forces that Warren and Sanders have unleashed will continue to percolate.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Mentioned in this Episode:&nbsp;</p><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/215462/dark-money-by-jane-mayer/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Dark Money</em> by Jane Mayer</a></li></ul><p><br></p><p>Further Learning:&nbsp;</p><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-woman-who-took-on-the-tycoon-651396/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">More on Ida Tarbell</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/blog/2019/175-talking-politics-guide-to-the-gilded-age\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">A Talking Politics Guide to … the Gilded Age</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/how-elizabeth-warren-came-up-with-a-plan-to-break-up-big-tech\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">More on Elizabeth Warren’s plan to break up big tech</a></li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: </strong><a href=\"http://lrb.co.uk/talking\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>lrb.co.uk/talking</strong></a></p>","author_name":"David Runciman and Catherine Carr"}