Avarice In America :: essays research papers

Avarice In America     When the topic of American economics arises, the infamous despoiler Barons of the 19th Century often springs to mind. They are often glorified as "Captains of Industry" for their coin making strategies and enterprising methods. Those who hold this view probably do not know the evils of the laissez-faire capitalism in which the Robber Barons believed and participated. They wanted an unrestricted system of economics so that they could amass as much money as they could to out do each other and control the power in society. They were not as glorious and generous as some great deal make them out to have been.     In laissez-faire capitalism, there are no restrictions on business so the enterprising capitalists were able to obtain monopolies by combining with other companies or simply buying them out. By doing this, the owners could raise the price of their goods or services to an intolerable amount of money so tha t they could gain rase more money. This often put the common working people out of a job because the owners could get children and poor European and Asian immigrants to do the akin menial factory jobs for pennies a day. This angered the Unions of America because their livelihood depended on the American working class. The Unions then persuaded the government to regulate the business giants and control the amount of money the companies could take in by disallowing monopolies and child labor. The "Kings of Capitalism" disregarded the impact their actions had on the lives of the working class men and their families. Many went hungry because of the lose of jobs available and were forced to go into debt to the companies that was impossible to be repaid. The Robber Barons would do almost anything to gain more money and more power even pose hard working people out of their houses.     It is often said that money is the root of all evil. The Robber Barons of the late 19th century proved this surmisal without fail. They showed that greed can overtake morals if the conditions are right. It is very evident that the Robber Barons had no qualms about ruining the lives of the people that worked for them and of society in general.