Who Were the Robber Barons? 

Please don't read these things through before making random comments. The random comments are why we are here, Simon.

You should do a video on the Pinkertons

How about Death Row records is now owned by Hasbro? Seems interesting.

i liked because of Simon's irritated bridge rant [but damn, that was an interesting topic.]

I'm addicted to this format and how your personality shines through

This video answered the biggest question I've had: where the hell does Simon live? But the bigger question now: where the hell is Simon's zebra mask??

That 15 minutes went way too fast. This channel is probably my favorite one Simon sore’s now(still watch the others regularly) but his attitude towards the videos are just great. Looks like he enjoys doing these types of topics and being able to go off script more

One More Time: Enron, Enron, Enron. Lets not forget Enron. We need to review this major event in business before it happens again!

yeah the Robber Barons are back, they just haven't been outed yet.

"The Jungle" is about the meat packing industry in Chicago

It's weird watching these older ones that weren't written by Danny! And not even a single "Daddy, chill" meme... It feels like a different channel

Land : (exists) Robber Barons : It's free real estate.

The "Give lots of money to charity" thing was due to the introduction of the income tax (capping at 90% at the time) and the charity deduction clause. Both were introduced specifically to target the Robber Barons, and was a message from the gov't: "You WILL be helping the nation. You can either choose how to help through charities, or we'll take a larger share and do it our way."

Fun Fact: Anderson Cooper was interviewed himself a few years back and there's footage of him describing the conversation with his mom when she told him there is no more money.

9:25 Still poorer than Mansa Musa. Guy was so rich that when he travelled to Mecca, his biggest worry was not running out of gold, but that his spending would cause hyperinflation in his wake. This eventually did bite his ass when he retuned to his home.

How far Chinese counterfeits have made its way into the mainstream market, including medications and the food system would be an interesting topic.

Amazing channel. And Simon is splendid on here. Love the format as it really lacked his sincere comments on the matters. There was one of those serious tone one videos with him cracking up and I absolutely loved it. Keep on going. Subscribed and loving the content

Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, TN, is one of the top schools in the country.

It's really cool to see someone from another country learn about this bit of American history for the first time, because, as Simon now knows, this period of American history was absolutely insane. My high school US History class spent a lot of time talking about this period (basically from the end of the American Civil War to WWI), and I understand why schools in other countries wouldn't teach it (as it's not particularly relevant to them), but it's a very interesting time period to study for anyone who likes history.

And this is why I like Simon, he isn't biased and is smart enough to know how much better things are now. But also understands why the past happened.

Simon don't you dare start reading these before hand. I thoroughly enjoy your anticipation on what's coming next and your inquisitive nature. If you were to read it beforehand it would murder that. It's enjoyable that you are just as excited and curious and questioning as the rest of us who are watching are. Also you need to check out the Biltmore. If the zombie apocalypse happens that's where I'm setting up Basecamp.

Honestly I hope the format and attitude of this channel never change. This channel makes all your other channels that much better and the inverse is also true. Seeing both sides of your personality is quite wonderful.

I love how you read from the script and make comments:) Makes this channel stand out from the rest. In regards to “Titles”, the south has a tradition of bestowing the title of “colonel”to success land owners and business people in the south.

Robber Barons where like early gamers who found a glitch in the system, and exploited the hell out of it until it was patched. In addition to gobbling up over 90% of the US oil supply, Rockefeller made deals with the Railroads to carry his oil at super cheap rates. When it became economically unviable for them, they tried to negotiate better rates, but instead of doing that, Rockefeller built his own pipelines instead and cut the Railroads out entirely. Since oil was the lions share of railroad traffic in the US at that time, the Railroads naturally went belly up, and over two hundred of them declared bankruptcy, causing a depression in the market. They eventually combined together and bought the White House, installing Garfield who was favorable to them, but he was assassinated by a former disgruntled mill worker. And they had given the Vice-Presidency to Teddy Roosevelt to keep that trouble maker out of the way, who immediately set out to Trust Bust them all. "The Men Who Built America" is a great must watch series on the Robber Barons, more stories there.

Yay!! Been sick for three days, and needed something to lift my mood, and Simon delivered. Excellent show as usual. Keep it up. Can't wait to see this channel explode.

Hey Simon you have to do a video about the Rise and Fall of "Jared" and Subway.

Usa constitution Article 1, Section 10 prohibits the states from granting any titles of nobility to anyone, whether they are citizens or not. ... However, the Constitution does not ban American citizens from receiving titles of nobility from other countries, and a child could actually be born into both. To answer your question about titles in usa.

I truly enjoy when you think ahead and then see it in the print. Please don't read prior to making the videos. It has a certain comedic and grounded feel to it!

Andrew Carnegie was born poor in Scotland. He introduced the idea of vertical integration: one company creating, owning and running all the businesses needed to monopolise one man's product in a market. Manufacturing, transportation and sales of steel were all under the control of his United Steel Company, based in Pittsburgh PA.

I grew up in a small town in America that had had a local version of a Robber Barron back in the day. There's a ton of stuff there named after him including a school, a park, formerly a hospital, and a room in pretty much every public building that does not already bear his name. It's like his name follows you around town wherever you go.

This is by far my favourite channel Simon is involved with its the random comments and side stories that make it

This is now one of my favorite channels. I love your biographics, geographics, today I found out and top tenz channels. Originally I wasn't going to watch these because I'm not into business, but autoplay was on and I was busy working so it played. Gotta say, I almost made a mistake, glad it played.

I am living for this format

applauds Simon's extremely detached indifference, even approaching apathy, dare I say, to correct pronunciation

The miniseries "The Men Who Built America" said it best. The only rule was that there were no rules

that raubritter pronouciation was spot on edit: how the f do you get an overnight from america to prag ive been waiting for something ive ordered from america for 5 weeks 😒

This makes me think of how Walmart operates: they make contracts with suppliers, drive out competitors, then force the suppliers to comply to their terms. They're great for consumers (convenience-wise), but ruin small towns.

Best channel on RU-vid, nice job Simon

I like the way you set up this channel it's different than the other ones so it's a nice breath of fresh air keep up the good work

Man. There’s nothing better than having a joint and watching these things

"This would be sooo illegal today" at 10:26. Well, this is pretty much exactly how Jeff Besos made his fortune, so no, unfortunately it is not illegal yet.

'The Jungle,' by Upton Sinclair, is about workers in the stockyards and meat plants in Chicago. I will never forget reading about the guy falling into a vat of something and they just kept him there; whatever was in the vat was made into food.

I adore the usually upright and proper simon being a little silly nerd. This channel is perfection

Idk how I missed this channel, but by far has become my favorite of yours. Most entertaining, for sure.

You kill it Simon! Never stop. We will always watch

I learned the Anderson cooper thing from Simon Whistler like a year ago but I guess I couldn't expect him to memorize everything he narrates.

The jungle is about parking plants in Chicago mostly. Chicago became a hub for stock yards because the railroads from the West would converge there

I would like to see an episode on U.S. currency. There was a reason the U.K. called the U.S. to fight Nazi counterfeiting efforts.

My dad is an economics buff and one of his favorite saying is "We want free market, just not that free market."

Why yes yes we do , I'm the Duke of Florida. Or florida man for short

I'm kind of shocked how much of this information I remembered from my high school history classes (I'm an American).

Really enjoying this channel and the loose format. Always makes my day to see a new BB video after a hard day of work✌️ Smashing that like button!!

I'm at the point of quarantine where I'm binge watching old business blaze episodes and verbally respond to US questions like Simon can hear me

Regarding US railroads ("What happened?"): 1.WW2: Everybody's railroads but ours got the crap bombed out of them and had to be rebuilt. 2. Air transport and Interstate highways caused rail to fall into disuse and disrepair. That's pretty much the tl;dr version.

Something that Brits probably don’t know but the house from the movie Richie Rich is actually the Vanderbilt estate. It was also in the movie Hannibal (2001) where Mason Verger lived. It’s been in a lot of movies but those are the 2 that instantly come to mind. It’s the largest privately owned house in the US with almost 180,000 ft² (16,600 m²).

This channel has the absolute best intro hooks

As far as rich people go in the US, there's a reason we have the term "old money." I don't think inheritance tax is anywhere near what it is in the UK. But more important than the liquid capital are the business assets that usually get passed on - stocks, bonds, and expensive valuables like (no joke, my middle class dad did this) gold and silver bullion.

Perhaps you could do a video on the construction and the early years of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway? It’s a rather crazy and strange tale. There was a hot air balloon race, then an a motorcycle race, then finally an auto race in which one marque, Overland, brought this “gold plated” car to give as a prize, but never actually gave it away. I would recommend the book “Blood and Smoke: The True Tale of Mystery, Mayhem, and the Birth of the Indy 500” by Charles Leerhsen for an in-depth chronicle.

The Jungle was set in Chicago. Good book. My family is from the area and I can see how it could've happened.

Hardly even scratched the surface of the Robber Barons. There are quite a few Robber Barons and often times they were hyper competitive with each other or downright hated each other. For example; J D Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie's relationship was very much a story of one upsmanship, particularly when it came to philanthropic endeavors and Christmas gifts. Carnegie would send Rockefeller scotch whisky or something else alcoholic. Rockefeller, being a DEVOUT Baptist did not drink at all responded by sending him a paper vest, making fun of his poor upbringing. You should watch the miniseries "Men Who Built America" it is an awesome show and I learned a lot. It covers the lives of the most important Robber Barons. Cornelius Vanderbilt, J D Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Frick (business partner/ENFORCER of Carnegie and because of his actions the "Homestead Strike" happened thst saw the 300ish of the Pinkerton Private "police" *more so a highly trained and HEAVILY armed private militia*). J P Morgan, and Henry Ford. There are obviously more Robber Barons, however these historical Titans of Industry and Business are who come to mind when thinking on the Robber Barons. Heck, Rockefeller, Carnegie and Morgan actually BOUGHT a US President William McKinley the 25th U.S. President in order to keep the possibilities of a Monopoly investigation/indictment from ever materializing. It worked until the President died and his big business and monopoly hating Vice President Teddy Roosevelt took over as the POTUS. As a result Standard Oil began having monopoly lawsuits and Rockefeller had to split up his company. And questions let me know.

Jeez us. That cornelius bit at the beginning.... oh i died.🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂🤣😂🤣

I live in Asheville, the Vanderbilt estate is a huge tourist attraction here, it's a huge chateau built in America. The estate is huge though, they have a dairy farm, a vinyard, and a bunch of other stuff. Also, some of that richie rich movie was filmed there.

Love it as always! Can we see a video on the white star line of Belfast. I do enjoy my titanic history 😊👏👏

5:41 Wasn't it a common practice for rich people (during victorian times) to give servants names more befiting to their status if they had fancy names (AKA degrading them)?

Plain and simple Simon you are just awesome. Love all your channels

Dartford (QEII) bridge is a nightmare although since i've been living in the North the Humber bridge makes it look like a picnic doesn't quite have the traffic (most of the time) but its just not a nice thing to cross

I think a lot of the major philanthropic movement began when these robber barons started getting old.

Regarding titles in the US, you are correct, we do not have any unearned titles. Regardless, those familiar with the history of the railroad would most likely know what (if not to some degree who) the Barons were that contributed to the westward expansion, and Rockefeller made their money via oil. There's a trip through the gorge in Canyon City Colorado, they talk about it on the tour.

I can totally imagine Ayn Rand getting all hot and bothered watching this episode... "Say my name! John Galt!" =D The seeming duality of these guys as being RUTHLESS businessmen, AND being unmatched philanthropists, is what makes these Robber Barons such complex, imperfect, yet compelling characters. It is also a manifestation of the fundamental internal ideological conflict the U.S. has struggled with, since the beginning. We have been trying to FORCE 3 fundamentally different systems of value to work simultaneously; specifically Capitalism, Democracy, and Christianity/Religion. Conflict is inevitable under these circumstances, but it is exactly this conflict which keeps things in check. Because if any 1 ideology reigned supreme, you might have a "Utopia" of sorts, but no "Utopia" is possible without some amount or manifestation of Fascism.

Can you do an episode about the Nazi origins of Volkswagen?

Amazon "buy in the next hour & get 2-day shipping!" Me "wtf...no next day shipping?..."

Simon. Love the content bud. Ever heard of Grand Rapids MI? Lots of intereating things happened there in the the late 19th century. Wood barrons and furniture factories galore. huge log jam that wrecked all the briges at one point. competing rich locals forging a city. I think it would be neat seeing something on that city. Anyways Thats my pitch. And thanks again for the hours of entertainment you have provided.

"You guys were really good at the beginning, what happened?" - Same thing that happens to all American Innovations. We focus on being the first to innovate - which then becomes a lucrative business opportunity, which then becomes stagnant when the business owners abandon investing in new risky innovations and favoring instead steady profits fueled by crushing new and existing competition. It's an infuriating pattern that ensures that America doesn't live up to its promise of exceptionalism when you actually peek under the hood. I love your content Simon!

My dad is the son of a farmer from the middle of Ireland. They were not rich growing up and they literally had to move across the country for better prospects for their kids. My dad's name is Niall and I didnt find out till I was an adult that his birth name is Cornelius. We found out by finding his birth cert. He hates the name and hates when we call him it

You should do one on the AT and T break up and the slow merging of the telecommunication to where it is today with only 1 or 2 options now

Simon: “Who were the Robber Barons?” Me: “My failed attempt at starting a Halo clan geared toward history buffs.”

Fewer top tenz and today I found out and more of these please ☺️

Simon, I am German and I think you did well with pronouncing Raubritter. Nice job dude.

Another fantastic video, thanks so much.

Why did automatic coffee/cocoa machines have poker cards on the cups?

The part of the story with the Standard Oil Co, where you said that kind of thing doesn't happen any more; apparently you don't know how Walmart operates. They do exactly what you described, minus the "buyout" option.

My family lives right off the same road where Jesse James committed his first train robbery (July 21, 1873). Railroads brought a boom to farmers but also brought a lot of trouble. A local gang affiliated with the James-Younger Gang at one point harassed my great great grandfather, but decided it wasn't worth it for whatever reason and let him be. The gang was shot down in the streets not long after, like the dogs they were.

Definately still happens today. Qantas drove lots of competitors out by price lowering. All the grocery chains regularly drive smaller businesses out by undercutting

What's interesting about The Jungle is that it was written to showcase the horrible and dangerous conditions people worked in at meat processing plants, such as accidents where workers lost fingers or limbs. Unfortunately, that message was lost on the public. Instead, what they took from it was, "Oh my God! What the hell is in my meat!?" That is why the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was created. It wasn't really about protecting workers, it was that people wanted "clean" steaks, bacon, sausages, etc.

Ah Mars Bars, that's one you should cover Simon! They come from my birthplace, Ballarat Victoria Australia, a place that deserves a good few videos of it's own. Again, my hand is up for assistance :)

I kinda look at the idea of them setting a price for things differently. Like, on the street there's a set price for say pot. 10 a g is commonly known. Now here's the thing because of that if you try to sell for 15 a g on the street 9/10 times no one will buy from you. Like you know when you're getting ripped off. A set price limits the amount of price gouging. And when you think about there are common items there's a price range you expect. It still happens in a way but without the meetings. Think about all of the times you balked at the price in a convenience store and only excuse it as "you're paying for the convenience" or with a budget decided to trudge through a grocery store for that one item because you decide it's a rip off because in A,B,C store it's X price with the tiniest margin

The new channel's interesting, though I admit, the change in format's a bit baffling. I wasn't on point and missed the launch, so, fan that I am, I went back through the vids I'd missed, and the earliest you have listed still starts off with "...and welcome to another episode of Business Blaze," as if it's just always been here. It's different- we can see that- you're reading scripts cold, and wandering off on your own thought trains, which is certainly fun, but I worry that all the specialized branch channels will burn you out, as well as draining away tons of original channel (TopTenz/TIFO) material. Still, certainly not going to complain about getting more "Simon teaching us stuff" videos, though! Wish you and the new projects all the best!

Ive spent dozens of hours researching this invasion and the motivations behind it over a 1000 year history. Everything Julia said here rings really true, she's 100% spot on!

IIRC, Andrew Carnegie believed in a high inheritance/estate tax, because he thought (and I believe the statistics generally support him on this) that subsequent generations living on their ancestors' insane wealth would inevitably squander it and lack any work ethic whatsoever.

"ARE" Who ARE the Robber Barons. The names and faces change. The Social Class is STILL alive and well.

It'd be great to hear an updated take on the Paradise Papers. A very related topic.

To answer your question, what happened to the U.S. railways, the political owners, at the end of WWII, decided to push for highway expansion and focus on their business, automotive/oil. They also devised plans to exclude public transportation in mayor cities where they thought they could get away with it, such as Los Angeles. The gasoline pipe line system in the U.S. began almost immediately after the war pumping fuel across the country to make it available with less shipping costs. The 50s saw the 'interstate' (highway building) boom after which the exponential increase in highway trucking. By the 1970's Americas railroads were in decay. Only through government concern of losing this valuable transportation system, the railroads were revitalized to the minimal state they exist today. For an interesting video, how about a video on the U.S. businesses and businessmen that did business with Nazi Germany before and during the war and what they did to support Nazi Germany and what happened with these businesses after the war. Most of which was made available by the freedom of information act in a disclosure made in 2013.

Can I be the weird one asking what brand shirt you are wearing? This one and at least another you own have such a good cut, I'm curious

Simon, in regards to rail traffic in the USA, after WW II the airline business grew very fast as jet aircraft came on line in the 1950s. Railines simply started to die, until there were many bankruptcys. The government in the 1970s put together a government run line, called Amtrak, for passenger travel and it has lost billions each and every year since it started. Rail for moving goods still goes on in the U.S. In the northeast U.S. from Boston to Washington D.C. it is one rare profitable high speed line, moving people on Amtrak. You can travel from New York to L.A. in five hours or less on a jet, the same trip by rail would take days. I always enjoy your videos, they are very informative. The sad thing about many social program countries is that they have to pay for the so called free programs. For example, like raping a sucessful person of there assets even in death. This leads to very little innovation and creation of new ideas. When Federal Express was created in the U.S. in the 1970s it was a big deal and not at all cheap. Before Fed Ex you had few choices in fast delivery. The industry has made many innovations, and caught up. A friend ordered a gift for his son on a Saturday morning from Amazon, and had it in his hands that afternoon. Keep making great videos. Lance

Unless you're Dr. Phil, titles are indeed earned. He's not a doctor, nor does he have a PhD.

Your mars bars analogy sounds like the Big Telecoms.

One more Suggestion, how about a business Blaze or a Today I found Out. about the history of Mad Magazine?

5:13 Wonder when this was recorded because I also was watching a video on why railways suck in the US a few days ago, hosted by Simon of course

Also, Walmart 2020 sounds like a good business blaze episode.

5:17 - The car industry lobby happened.