Curious - naturally - as to why being wealthy has become a touchstone target for so many mouthy self righteous politicians and high profile journalists I decided to do some research...
[Note: people who live in glass houses and throw stones at others really-really-really hate it when you throw facts at them crushing 'their' virtuous narrative.]
Anyway...In the midst of this latest campaign to tax/rob the rich in a weak [Robin Hood] styled justification to spread the wealth - CNN also [ironically] reran a series called 'The Food That Made America' and 'The Cars That Made America' etc. Much of the early 20th Century wealth was possible because personal income tax wasn't an annual stress induced event until 1913. Amazing huh...
Before 1913 taxes were levied primarily on trade, goods and services because the U.S. Government was a much smaller blip on the eastern horizon and hadn't yet begun to divide and multiply like single cell [swamp] amoeba.
A brief [personal] income tax was levied to fund the Civil War, but was dropped after the war due to protests and a legal challenge that a personal tax on income was unconstitutional. However, in an atypical efficient move Congress corrected the constitutional legality of a levied personal federal income tax - with ratification of the 16th Amendment. [Our U.S. Congress is confirmation that not only can you "close the barn door after the horses have bolted" - you don't really need doors at all.]
Okay, income tax aside - what the historical series offered is an impressive glimpse into how the businesses that most of us grew up with [me included] got their start from the Ford motor car to McDonald's hamburgers and oodles of companies in between. Businesses like Westinghouse, Hershey's, Kraft Foods, General Motors, Chrysler Corporation, Kellogg's and Post Cereals, Macy's, Dillard's, Heinz and Campbell's soup...
Most recently the tax [and union] focus from federally elected hypocrites has been on mega corporations like Walmart and Amazon. I say hypocrites because far too many of the federally elected people who hold a publicly supported office have a double standard. People like Nancy Pelosi,[$115 million] Elizabeth Warren [$12 million] and Bernie Sanders [$3 million] absolutely must decry billionaires/the top 1% otherwise their hot-air-balloon exposes 'them' as part of the top 10%! **The vast majority of Federally elected lawmakers in the 116th Congress are millionaires - many times over...And the number of CNN journalists as well as other network high profile anchors who are also worth several million - makes their on-air condemnation of "the wealthy" beyond two-faced scorn.
But what happens if the repetitive, careless 'noise' created by our elected peers and national media journalists starts to produce serious corporate harm? That harm actually affects real people, real voters. Between them Walmart and Amazon employ 2.7 million people. If even half of those people are laid off that implodes our national unemployment numbers...
Are Amazon and Walmart and several other companies too big - or too influential? The influence part is having the 'ear' of politicians elected to 'serve' everyone who voted 'and' didn't vote for them...
From our vantage point in 2021 it's almost a spoiler alert because we can see major companies from where they are now - not not from where they started...The 'start' was always an idea - followed by trial and error - lots of it. Also, l-o-n-g and l-o-n-g l-o-n-g hours, borrowed money, set backs and risk! So, in no particular order let's take a look at some very very very rich people - who got where they got 'not' by working 9to5 or a four day work week. This is only a wee list and you decide if they seem like corporate villains. It's not magic it's effort...
...John Harvey Kellogg started the "Kellogg Toasted Corn Flake Company" in 1909. This [a century ahead of its time] company instituted a 30hr work week in 1931 to add an additional work shift during the Depression. Competitor C.W. Post produced "Grape Nuts" in 1895. [Kellogg employs 31,000]
...Annie Malone [Madam C.J.Walker] was the first self-made female millionaire. She was born to parents who were former slaves. In 1900 she developed specialized products for African American skin and hair care...Her products are now available via Sephora.
...James Lewis Kraft perfected a longer lasting cheese processing method in 1916 used in war rations then merged that idea with Kraft dinner in 1937 that fed more troops... [Kraft and Heinz merged employing 21,000]
...Milton Hershey started in a small candy shop in 1873, perfected a caramel candy then after a business set back settled on chocolate. In 1894 he built an entire [inexpensive] town for employees in Pennsylvania that became Hershey, PA where he and his wife also educated hundreds of local orphans...[Hershey employs 16,140]
...Henry Ford was born on a farm, started out in watch repair, serviced steam engines then learned book keeping, but mechanical workings always fascinated him. Ford boldly paid 'all' his factory workers both black and white - $5 a day in 1914...[Ford in North America employs 100,000]
...Joseph A Campbell was a fruit merchant who partnered with Abraham Anderson an icebox maker in 1869. Later Anderson's son, Campbell Speelman and Joseph Campbell perfected a condensing process that only required the home maker to add water...[Campbell's employees dropped in 2020 to 14,500]
...Andrew Carnegie was born in a Scottish weaver's cottage. In 1849 at age 14 he became a telegraph messenger at $2.50 per week [$78 in 2021 dollars] then at 18 a telegraph operator for the railroad at $4 per week [$124 in 2021 dollars]. When he was promoted to Telegraph Superintendent he not only hired his younger brother as an operator he hired is cousin Maria Hogan who was the first female telegraph operator. A voracious reader Andrew was largely self taught and took calculated risks to prosper, but not for money's sake - he believed in sharing...
...John D. Rockefeller started out at 16 as an assistant book keeper. At 20 he went into partnership in 1863 with kerosene distribution [for oil lamps] then invested in crude oil. From Standard Oil's early beginnings the rest is a big part of our history. Standard oil & Trust was broken up into 34 separate companies. [The petroleum industry employs 143,000]...
...Cornelius Vanderbilt [Van/of-der/the-land/bil] came from a Dutch farming family. In 1810 at the age of 16 with a $100 loan he started his own waterways ferry service then expanded to greater shipping railroad transportation...
...George Westinghouse [Jr] was an engineer who in 1886 developed a railway air brake then went on to all things electrical... [Westinghouse employs 9,000]
...McDonald's was originally founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald later bought out then franchised by Ray Kroc in 1953. [McDonald's employs around 500,000]...
...Samuel Moore Walton was another farm boy who tried mortgages then life insurance, but leaped into retail with his first store in 1962. And unless you have been in a coma for the last 50 years I don't really need to go into a lot more detail...[Walmart employs 1.5 million people in the U.S.]
...Jeffery Preston [Jorgenson] Bezos started Amazon in 1994 as an online bookstore in his parent's garage. He lost money for several years rolling all sales income back into his business to expand and diversify. [Twenty seven years ago Amazon couldn't pay Jeff a salary, Amazon now employs 1.2+million]...
...David L. Steward was born in Clinton Missouri to a homemaker and a mechanic. Overcoming poverty and segregation this determined man of African heritage went on to found World Wide Technology in 1990...[World Wide employs 7,000]
...Oprah Winfrey was born to a single mother in rural Mississippi, spent preschool years with her maternal grandmother, went back to her mother and was molested by a family member. She became pregnant at 14 then lost her baby to a premature birth. Oprah's shaky start in life is PROOF that no one needs to be a 'victim' because she 'built' a multi-layered inspirational life... [Yes I'm a fan.] [OWN Network employs 90 directly.]...
...Robert Frederick Smith is a chemical engineer of African heritage born in Colorado to PhD. educated parents. [In 2000 he founded Vista Equity Partners that employs 30,000 globally.]
**Legal immigrants... Jorge Perez came from Argentina invests in real estate. [He founded The Related Group that employs 3,000]...
...Alberto Perez came from Columbia was/is a dancer and choreographer. [He founded Zumba that employs 7,000.]...
...Carlos Castro came from Portugal was a journalist and broadcaster who became president and CEO of Todos Supermarket that employs 113.]...
...Jordi Munoz came from Mexico. [He founded 3D Robotics that employs 70]
...Dave Anderson belongs to both the Choctaw and Chippewa tribes. He founded Famous Dave's Barbeque in 1994 and besides a chain of restaurants the company sells bottled sauce products. [Famous Dave's employs 2,417]...
...Evans Craig is a Navajo silversmith by trade who founded Internet Technology Services originally to bring high-speed internet to all Native Americans. It has grown to include so much more. [No staffing stats]...
...Henry Red Cloud is Lakota and founded Lakota Solar Enterprises in 2006 in Pine Ridge, South Dakota with a strong emphasis on renewable energy solutions. [No staffing stats.]...
...Notah Begay III is a Navajo Stanford graduate who founded KivaSun Foods in 1995. The focus is on Bison and many other traditional Native American foods. [No staffing stats.]...
...America's Middle East and Asian citizens and new immigrants seem to routinely outdistance the rest of us from medicine to technology with their astonishing energy and contributions enriching us all...
My 'very' long point to get here [if you're still with me] is that thoughtless actions and comments can lead to killing the proverbial goose [thriving business] that laid a golden egg [employment opportunity] for millions. You can protest to your elected representative and to sponsors that advertise on network news programs. Money talks. Your money talks...
https://medium.com/@BraveNewFilms.org/heres-how-to-contact-all-535-members-of-united-states-congress-call-email-tweet-20b8a1c54195
Sherrie Todd-Beshore is a former journalist turned mystery-suspense novelist...
Via amazon.com or patchworkpublishing.com
Mystery-Suspense-Thriller: "The Count Of Baldpate"
Sequel: "Year Of The Dog"
