Could an Ida Tarbell Exist In The 21st Century?
Anti-oligopoly revolutionaries in the age of social media.
19th century America was literally the wild west, with a fearsome cast of characters, keen to make their presence felt in the land which was coming to terms with its existence in the immediate aftermath of the near ruinous civil war.
Chief among these players were Cornelius Vanderbilt and Andrew Carnegie who created new markets by revolutionizing infrastructure in what was largely an agrarian space.
And there was, of course, John D. Rockefeller.
Rockefeller was first among those who saw that a huge fortune could be amassed from the substance buried underneath the earth.
And once the swashbuckling entrepreneur set about drilling for products wherever he could, a monopoly was born.
It is no hyperbole to state that Standard Oil was the very first behemoth of its kind from the United States of America and its owner wasn’t shy about crushing its rivals to maintain its position throughout the country.
And for a minute, it was highly successful in accomplishing its strategic aims and objectives, until someone from unlikeliest quarters had different ideas.
And who exactly was this?