Welcome Back!
And now the last couple Alex Taylor Crime Stories …
That’s John Jacob Astor on the left. You’ll read about him and other derided magnates shortly. Will it feel as jealousy when a wildly successful person comes to greater power and influence? Haves vs the Have-Nots? I never once took that position, preferring to view many of them as persecuted and immensely burdened with cradling the livelihoods of thousands. Their responsibilities are, in fact, enormous. Problem is, further exposure to the power elite (to use the C. Wright Mills label) yields inevitable narratives of corruption, greed, power trips and personal drama with little regard for their workers. Okay, some of these people; certainly not all.
Sounds like an Industrial Age fairy tale until you see it for yourself. We took a trip a few years ago to Central and South America. The banana plantations were striking in this sense — that of the robber barons. Huge swaths of carefully-cultivated product, farmed with the best, most modern techniques and machinery, all operated by impoverished hoards who live (exist) in bordering shanties. Oceangoing cargo liners dock, are filled to the decks, and off they go to the First World — to your local grocery store — pennies for a pound. I think of those people every time I see cheap bananas. The socialists would say it’s capitalism run amok, and their detractors would certainly cite mere opportunity and free economics. More on this below …
Originally published to the Gainesville Times, February 7, 1990.
Regarding the capitalist vs socialist debate, I see it as a personal responsibility of the wealthy powerful to improve and enrich the lives of their underlings, not so much a government’s. Problem is, too many biz emperors don’t see it that way, forcing politicians and their disgruntled, fomented constituents into regulatory action. Oops! That riotous conversation’s a tad large for this column. I’ll not risk the TLDR and leave it there.
