The Infamous Jay Gould
Shortly after Gould left for Wall Street he made a modest profit by shorting railroad stocks in the panic of 1857.He had made a modest and profitable investment. He then went long in several railroads, shortly after the panic and his timing prooved to be extremely accurate.
In 1867 Daniel Drew, treasurer and longtime director of the Erie Railroad,
added Gould and James Fisk to the Erie board of directors. When Cornelius
Vanderbilt, of the New York Central, sought to buy control of the Erie a
spectacular battle ensued. Gould, Fisk, and Drew promptly issued thousands
of shares of new, watered stock. The "poison pill" of the time, although Gould may hav been as Erie as the canal, he did revolutionize financial tactics. When the angry Vanderbilt obtained an arrest warrant for the three, they ferried company headquarters to Jersey City, and Gould rushed to Albany where a pliable New York legislature authorized the stock issue. Eventually peace was made with Vanderbilt, but that gentleman was reported to have muttered that his trouble with the Erie "has learned me it never pays to kick a skunk." Later in the fall of 1869 Gould and Fisk conspired with the brother-in-law of President Ulysses S. Grant to corner the gold market, causing the panic of "Black Friday," September 24, 1869, and a tremendous margin call for Gould. He was even reported as telling his partners to buy as he was selling tremendous volumes of gold. After the crash his partners were left with nothing as Gould went long the market at the lowest levels.
Gould continued to loot the Erie until his departure in 1872. His role in the Erie War and the attempted gold corner gave him a reputation as the prime financial predator of the age.
Possessing a fortune, Gould turned to western railroads. In the
twenty years after 1872 he was a director of seventeen major lines
and the president of five. He purchased much Union Pacific stock and
controlled that road until 1878. At first Gould improved the management
of the Union Pacific but later blackmailed the company by threatening
to have the Gould-controlled Kansas Pacific build a nuisance line to Utah.
During the 1880s Gould controlled about half the mileage southwest of St.
Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, and Vanderbilt all had something in common, they were all “Robber Barons,” whose actions would eventually lead to the corruption, greed, and economic problems of Corporate America today. During the late 19th century, these men did all they could to monopolize the railroad, petroleum, banking, and steel industries, profiting massively and gaining a lot personally, but not doing a whole lot for the common wealth. Many of the schemes and techniques that are used today to rob people of what is rightfully theirs, such as pensions, stocks, and even their jobs, were invented and used often by these four men.
When “Black Tuesday” struck Wall Street on October 29th, 1929 investors traded 16 million shares on the on the New York Stock Exchange in just a day which caused billions of dollars to be lost and thousands of investors who got all their money wiped out. After the fallout of “Black Tuesday” America’s industrialized country fell down into the Great Depression which was one of the longest economic downfalls in history of the Western industrialized world. On “Black Tuesday” stock prices dropped completely. After “Black Tuesday” stock prices couldn’t get any worse or so they thought but however prices continued to drop U.S fell into the Great Depression, and by 1932 stocks were only worth about 20 percent of their value. Due to this economic downfall by 1933 almost half of America’s banks had failed. This was a major economic fallout which resulted in the Great Depression because it caused the economy to lose a lot of money and there was no way to dig themselves out of the hole of
Over the years Carnegie became tired of being in the steel business, so when J.P Morgan and his partners were interested in Carnegie’s Steel Company, Carnegie found that way would be a great way to get out of that world. Carnegie sold his company to them left them to $480,000,000, that was the second smart move for him. In 1901 Carnegie became the richest man alive, and he knew he had to give it away when he died.
George M. Pullman is best remembered for his contributions to the railroad industry through the invention of his Pullman Cars. The cars sold well and the railroad industry flourished with this new invention. Although the success attached to his name, not many people know the real truth behind this robber baron. His greed for money took him to extreme measures as his workers were seriously mistreated and put under strict
for so many years. It was wasting away, but the Don Corleone from the UK would do everything he could to establish a name for himself, through a life filled with luck and crime.
As mentioned, it is accurate to allot the title of “robber baron” to the industrial leaders of the time in that they employed various, considerably unethical, methods in order to obtain untold riches. Such a notion is quite evident in William H. Vanderbilt’s own words, that, “[t]he railroads are not run for the benefit of the ‘dear public’-that cry is all nonsense they are built by men who invest their money”. (Document A) Vanderbilt even goes so far as to say something such as, “[t]he public be damned”, so to demonstrate he does not care for the opinion and state of the public, but rather only of his own and of his fellow financiers. Such statements prove that Vanderbilt sought to further his wealth, whether or not ...
Shaw, Ronald E. Erie Water West; a History of the Erie Canal, 1792-1854. Lexington: University of Kentucky, 1966. Print.
What: the bottom fell out of the market, and shareholders frantically tried to sell before the prices plunged. 16.4 billion shares were dumped that day. People who bough stocks on credit were stuck with huge debts, and others lost most of their savings.
Finally, investors went into “panic mode” on October 24th, 1929, and began trading and dumping their shares, totaling a record of 12.9 million. Of course, following “Black Thursday,” the more well-known “Black Tuesday” ensued as a result of this. Between Black Monday and Black Tuesday, the market lost 24% of its value, and investors bought and traded over 28.9 million stocks. These stocks, now worthless, were used as firewood for some investor’s homes. The Dow Jones Company is perhaps the greatest example for this crash. Dow Jones started at 191 points at the beginning of 1928, then more than doubling to 381 points by September 1929. The crash caused their record 381 points to plummet to less than 41 p...
However, in 1929 when stocks had soared to an all-time high, in September they plummeted. This day in history is known as Black Thursday and is remembered as the Wall Street Crash of 29. The crash hit people's interests hard. and Americans all over lost a lot of money. Banks had to spend all of the money they had on regaining the economy, and agricultural needs.
Rockefeller was the son of a trader, and began in the oil company when he was 20. He knew this was the area to invest in, because coal was being replaced by oil in the power industries. By 1870, he had his first oil business, called the Standard Oil Company. Like Carnegie, Rockefeller used horizontal integration and within two years, he had also created a monopoly. He made more money because he paid his workers extremely low wages and treated them poorly. Unlike Carnegie who offered his workers benefits and stock options, Rockefeller gave his workers poor conditions and even abused them at times. Even though Rockefeller was a philanthropist and gave a lot of his money away, that does not make up for how he treated other people and put people out of business to become wealthy. He is best known for a robber baron because he simply used his power to destroy other businesses. He did whatever he could to control the oil industry, even if that meant stepping on others on the way to his success. He reduced the costs of his company, and he was then able to drive other companies out of business, which is how he became one of the richest men in history.
During his time at the University of Florida, Tim Tebow was known as one of the greatest college football players ever. He won two National Championships and a Heisman trophy, which is the award given to the best player in college football. During this time period in college footbal,l players such as Reggie Bush and others were involved with investigations regarding illegal benefits being given to players by agents and boosters. Needless to say, Tim was never associated or involved in these investigations or crimes.
People who didn’t have the money bought on margin. The stock market was booming and the excitement about the market caused a lot of over- speculation. People ignored the small signs of the impending crash until Black Thursday, October 24, 1929. Four days later, the stock market fell again. At first, the effects of the crash were felt by people who had invested a great deal of money in stocks, which was about four million people out of a population of one hundred and twenty million people.
On Thursday, October 24th, 1929, people began to sell their stocks as fast as they could. Sell orders flooded the market exchanges. (1929…) This day became known as Black Thursday. (Black Thursday…) On a normal day, only 750-800 members of the New York Stock Exchange started the exchange. (1929…) There were 1100 members on the floor for the morning opening. (1929…) Furthermore, the exchange directed all employees to be on the floor since there were numerous margin calls and sell orders placed overnight. Extra telephone staff was also arranged at the member’s boxes around the floor. (1929…) The Dow Jones Average closed at 299 that day. (1929…)
He started buying and trading in shares heavily. The shares of Companies in which he was most interested were: