Talk:Gilded Age

A great period for the United States?
I think so. From 1865 to 1914 the US economy grew at an exponential rate. Real wages, wealth, GDP, and capital investment increased rapidly. By 1900, per capita income and industrial production in the United States led the world, with per capita incomes double that of Germany or France, and 50% higher than Britain. Coal production increased 800% and railroad milage increased 575%. Wheat, timber, oil and steel production also increased greatly. By 1900 the USA had 23.6% of the worlds manufacturing output. By 1914 the USA had 32% of the worlds manufacturing output. Moonshot926 (talk) 20:02, 28 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Read the article. Тy rannosaurs 20:03, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

Captains of Industry or Robber Barons?
While you will get no disagreement from me that wealth was dangerously concentrated and that Western governments were immensely corrupted by business, I'm not really sure how this was worse than the combination of Hamiltonian banker/merchant class plutocracy and Jeffersonian planter aristocracy (slave ownership aside) they nudged out. I'm going to say Captains of Industry in the same way that Joseph Stalin, asshole that he was, was better than the autocrats they replaced. Dr. Swordopolis (talk) 17:48, 8 August 2012 (UTC)