WHERE ARE ALL THE "TRUST-BUSTERS" OUT THERE? BIG TECH OWNS US...

Vol. I | Issue. 46 | November 22, 2021

John Rockefeller (1839 -1937) was born in upstate New York to a poor family. In 1870 he founded Standard Oil, the company that went on to dominate the oil market and all oil output in the United States.

As a result, he became the wealthiest man in America in 1913 with a net worth estimated at $900 million dollars through his Standard Oil holdings. The U.S. GDP that year was $39.1 billion dollars with Rockefeller’s net worth accounting for roughly three percent of that total.

Rockefeller, through Standard Oil, either controlled or influenced virtually every industry in America at that time due to the total vertical and horizontal integration of Standard Oil. This was done through Standard Oil’s total control over the production and distribution of that “black gold”, through Big John’s personal wealth, the total number of workers employed, and simply the vast network of economic influence and dominance that the company had over the U.S. Economy.

In 1911, The U.S. Supreme Court broke up Standard Oil into 34 separate entities based upon its violation of Anti-Trust Laws. On some level, the Standard Oil breakup diminished the Rockefeller influence, and the Supreme Court showed the nation that it has teeth and that it could bite. 

In the rearview mirror, Rockefeller was not nearly the threat back then that the Big Tech oligarchs are today…

Rockefeller’s demise as the quintessential colossus was largely brought about by a culturally emergent generation of journalists known as the "muckrakers". The phrase was originally coined by Teddy Roosevelt, the “Trust-Buster”, who even with his trustbusting ideas and initiatives thought that this group of journalists often went too far in their anti-business / anti-government zeal.

But oh how we need them now… By them, I mean an independent working press aligned with independent writers, journalists, and elected officials who are not bought, owned, and paid for by Big Tech.

In his day, Big John was the richest man in America, and likely the most hated. Rockefeller was publically reviled on a daily basis by and through every available communication medium of the day, which meant newspapers and word of mouth. The name Rockefeller was ubiquitously cursed. In the Standard Oil Trust trial of 1911, Big John made such a doddering fool of himself, that he retired and lived as a recluse until his death 26 years later.

Now enter the Big Tech oligarchs of today...

Without mentioning them by name, we all know who they are. Big Tech has created an America where there is no meaningful competition regarding the transmission, dissemination, or formulation of diverging opinions. John D. Rockefeller, both in his prime and in his exiled retirement, really never had more than a narrow swath of supporters. At that time, American Business was unabashedly capitalist, mostly Republican, and was philosophically aligned with traditional conservative values. 

Even with the collective consensus that capitalism and free enterprise were foundational to The American Way, there was a healthy antagonism towards monopolies and their controlling Robber Baron Capitalists. Once the breakup of Standard Oil was in the history books, would-be monopolists had to at least look over their broad shoulders in fear of being busted.

Not so anymore. Big Tech now controls every aspect of our economy and our lives. Unlike in Big John's day, the tech oligarchs needn’t worry about negative imagery with the public. Rockefeller, despite having vast control over the early 20th-century economy, didn’t have much say in how he was perceived by the average citizen on a daily basis.

Today, despite some chattering and noise around the edges, the Big Tech oligarchs design both the message and own the messengers. They have become folk heroes, who have created and owned the "gig/tech economy” that the public has so come to admire and become enslaved by. 

What they have really done is rob us of the ability to think and act independently as free citizens.

Big Tech tells us all what to create and who to destroy. They have shown their ability to foment electoral defeat to any candidate who doesn’t align with their agenda which is a dagger to the heart of our Constitutional Republic.

I think it's time for a grand and focused effort to break up the tech oligarchy before it permanently destroys The American Way.

John D, you were a babe in the woods next to these 20th-century Robber Barons.

Where are all you muckrakers out there?? Probably on Facebook.

-Emes