Thursday, April 30, 2009
'The First Tycoon'
Maybe our conceited Wall Streeters, so convinced of their importance to capitalism, will deign to read a book about America’s first modern capitalist who actually built and ran tangible things. For all his faults, I’d take Cornelius Vanderbilt over John Thain anytime. ... It’s fascinating how the name of such an "illiterate and boorish” man, once shunned by New York society, is now synonymous with American aristocracy. The latter, of course, is the invention of his do-nothing descendants.
Maybe our conceited Wall Streeters, so convinced of their importance to capitalism, will deign to read a book about America’s first modern capitalist who actually built and ran tangible things. For all his faults, I’d take Cornelius Vanderbilt over John Thain anytime. ... It’s fascinating how the name of such an "illiterate and boorish” man, once shunned by New York society, is now synonymous with American aristocracy. The latter, of course, is the invention of his do-nothing descendants.
