Taryn Allen
Spencer Chun
Liesa Covey
Ben Guido
The
American dream is to not have to work and be able to support your family for
numerous generations. Beginning with the Gilded Age people began to
strive to be super wealthy. Super Wealthy means that all expenses that
are necessary or unnecessary can be bought. Items are owned that are not
needed but they are owned simply to show status in society. The super
wealthy were first seen in the Gilded Age but changed randomly through the
1920’s, 1950’s and the 1980’s.
The Gilded Age showed the
small rise of the first super wealthy families. The beginning of the
super wealthy started with Rockefeller’s Standard Oil and Carnegie’s United
Steel. They begin to make huge profits for this era by mastering pools
and trusts. Pools and trust are formed by corporations to reduce
competition. Their goal is to divide the market to set rates and
guarantee profits, so trusts can make great deals after they beat the
competition. Once they began to get all their money they set a new social
class, the super wealthy. Rockefeller and Carnegie could afford anything
that was needed or not needed. They had enough money to have there future
generations set for no work. The two families used pools and trusts to
set a new social class. The size of home you had and how well you could
support your family placed you in your status class. When the first
automobiles began to be manufactured only the super wealthy would own them.
Throughout the 1920’s, industry and interest in business grew. It became a
symbol of wealth to buy and sell stocks on the
The 1950's were all about who had the nice cars and who had the best parties,
but the excessively high tax made life for the super wealthy person quite
difficult. One of the most popular lines of cars was Ford. The inventor of the
assembly line made big off of his quickly and efficiently made cars. To have a
nice car was definitely a sign of wealth in the 1950's. It was just like having
a nice house with a big lawn, but this you took everywhere. Another thing that
really showed that you were wealthy was how good of a party you threw. Getting
drunk as if you didn't have to worry about anything was a common theme among
the rich. This sign of lack of responsibilities showed that you could afford a
little missing cash. One thing that caused these wealthy people to miss more
cash than usual however was the high tax rate of the 1950's. During this time
the marginal tax rate on very rich people was up to 91%. It was common to see a
big company with loads of extra money going to the CEO so they could keep up
with this. The
wealthy in the 1950's weren't really as wealthy as they pretended to be.
All throughout the 1980’s, many
Americans took out the words “you” and “we” and replaced them with “me” and
“I”. With this new concept of bettering yourself, some people didn’t get
a whole lot wealthier, yet others got extremely wealthy. For example, Donald Trump, Leona Helmsley, and Ivan Boesky all became super wealthy and
showed off true American living. Though some better off now than others,
they all have, at one point in time or another, their downfalls. It is
how they recover from those downfalls and make the best out of them that sets
them apart from ordinary civilians. For example, Trump was not only in
business debt at one time, but personal debt too. Leona, though not in so
much debt as Trump, had to deal with many lawsuits and prison, for a short
amount of time, due to incomplete and careless tax forms and other business
legal documents. Lastly Ivan’s downfall was when he went to prison for
betting on corporation takeovers, getting info on the “who’s who and what’s
what”; sometimes placing illegal bets within days of the initial
takeover. From all of their downfalls to the present, Trump has built
many big business buildings, casinos, and much more, Leona inherited her
husband’s death, which was well in excess of $5 billion, and Ivan had over 200
million dollars he gained through his illegal bets on takeovers.
External Links:
The Gilded Age
Gilded Age -
a brief summary of life in the Gilded Age featuring Carnegie and Rockefeller
Gilded
Age: Industrial Revolution - a website devoted to the Industrial Age and
the wealthy. Describing the ways to succeed and become apart of the wealthy
society at the time.
Themes
of the Gilded Age - featuring various links to many sections highlighting
the main themes of this era.
The 1920s
Biography
of Joseph P. Kennedy - the life of Joseph Kennedy describing his role in the
1920’s and the stock market.
Stock
Market Crash - an in depth website giving the details of the crash in 1929.
The Great
Depression - giving several summaries of the Great Depression and the
effects of American society.
The 1950s
Wealthy
Americans of the 1950s -the wealthy families of the 1950s
giving a summary of the aftermath of the Great Depression.
Are
the Rich Really Different- an editorial giving a summary of the economy in
the 1950s and questioning the rich society during that time period.
The 1980s
The 1980s - the
regeneration of the American Dream and the image of greed shown at this time.
Donald Trump Biography - the super
wealthy idol of the 1980s.