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July 08, 2006
Richer than Rockefeller
Richer than Rockefeller: A bit off-topic, but I wanted to get this link in 'cause it's hard to search for this argument. Working in technology does provide long-term benefits to everyone: "Consider John D. Rockefeller, a name nearly synonymous with wealth. At one point he had a net worth as high as 1/65th of US GDP at that time, a figure that would be the equivalent of $190 Billion today - four times what Bill Gates currently has. He owned land, employed people, and had political clout that would seem extraordinary at any time in history. But, having died in 1937 at the age of 98, Rockefeller never had photographs of his childhood, never watched a color film, never flew in a jet engine airplane, and never saw a photograph of the Earth taken from space. If Rockefeller wished to travel from New York to Chicago, it took him and his entourage more than a day. If his servant cut him during a morning shave (or even if he did it himself), a cloth bandage was the only kind available. His underwear did not have elastic, and since no cohort of servants could have realistically alleviated that problem for him, he probably spent every day accustomed to irritating hassles that would be unacceptable to even the poorest Americans today." Sometimes it's easy to focus on incremental income differences today, but I think that improving things for everyone has the bigger longterm impact.
Posted by John Dowdell at July 8, 2006 08:48 AM
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