The general decline in standards today

[AtomicEraTom]

If a billion dollars means nothing to you, feel free to send a billion my way.

Most estimates of Rockefeller's fortune are around $900+billion. Morgan didn't even have as much as Carnegie and combined they didn't have as much as Rockefeller.

Rockefeller had a billion dollars, back when a billion dollars actually meant something.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Standard Oil was a major international company in the 1800s. When Rockefeller started in the oil business, Pennsylvania was the only place on earth with oil wells. At the same time he was selling lamp oil and other products around the world.

When the government broke up Standard Oil the joke was on them. A year later Rockefeller was twice as rich as before the lawsuit. As separate companies the stock was worth a lot more than as one big company.

 

[HudsonHawk]

When the government broke up Standard Oil the joke was on them. A year later Rockefeller was twice as rich as before the lawsuit. As separate companies the stock was worth a lot more than as one big company.

There was no joke. The goal was not to keep Rockefeller from making money, it was to force him to do it legally.

 

[HudsonHawk]

If a billion dollars means nothing to you, feel free to send a billion my way.

I got your name on my list.

 

[jamespowers]

There was no joke. The goal was not to keep Rockefeller from making money, it was to force him to do it legally.

[video=youtube_share;37OWL7AzvHo]http://youtu.be/37OWL7AzvHo[/video]

 

[jamespowers]

If a billion dollars means nothing to you, feel free to send a billion my way.

I could do a lot with a billion bucks.

 

[Gregg Axley]

I got your name on my list.

Me too, I need to acquire more 70's clothes, before I use the rest of the money to build a time machine.
Deloreans don't cost a lot now, but gas is much higher, not to mention plutonium.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Me too, I need to acquire more 70's clothes, before I use the rest of the money to build a time machine.
Deloreans don't cost a lot now, but gas is much higher, not to mention plutonium.

When I get rich, like Rockefeller rich, I'm going to buy a couple of things; 1) a baseball team (for which I shall require all my players to shave and wear stirrups), and 2) some life-sized Tonka toys and a giant pile of dirt to play in.

 

[Gregg Axley]

I've currently got the money for the dirt.
I can also buy a baseball team, as long as there aren't more than 3 kids on the team, and I don't have to feed them.
Oh sure, they'd have to run fast to cover all the field, but they are kids, they've got lots of energy.
Great idea though Hudson.

Yeah, the money the early oil guys (and railroad guys) had was insane.
I can't even imagine having that kind of funding.

 

[jamespowers]

I can't even imagine having that kind of funding.

I could!

 

[jamespowers]

Me too, I need to acquire more 70's clothes, before I use the rest of the money to build a time machine.
Deloreans don't cost a lot now, but gas is much higher, not to mention plutonium.

70s!? :faint:

 

[1961MJS]

70s!? :faint:

Come on James, 70's stuff is the ULTIMATE VINTAGE forever. Polyester doesn't rot, and moths don't like it.

Later

 

[Feraud]

..1870s?

 

[jamespowers]

Come on James, 70's stuff is the ULTIMATE VINTAGE forever. Polyester doesn't rot, and moths don't like it.

Later

Say what you want about moths, they at least have the good sense to leave the 70s alone. Even rot knows better.

 

[jamespowers]

..1870s?

Now we are talking!

 

[AtomicEraTom]

What a swell guy!

I got your name on my list.

 

[Captain Neon]

In 1979-81 I worked for a local construction company that did concrete work for commercial sites. One of their customers was the Kraft Foods facility that was in Buena Park, California. Don't tell anyone, but they squirted the same mayonnaise and mustard into every bottle or jar regardless of what it said on the label.

I can guarantee you that things have changed a lot since 1981. While the store brands vary from supplier to supplier and two bottles with the same store brand can be very different formulas. When it comes to national brands, they are all different in some form or fashion. Kraft mayonnaise is very different from Hellman's, and Hunt's is different than Heinz. A lot of people make a lot of money making sure that their products, regardless of who makes them, have the correct formulations and flavor profiles. Nobody gets away with just formula on the books and putting both Kraft and Hellman's labels on the same formulation, and Kraft would never let any of their co-packers get away with putting their formula in an other customer's jar, esp. if that jar has a store brand label. Lots of people make a lot of money making sure that doesn't happen either.

 

[Captain Neon]

There are still about 1,800 Texaco stations in the US. Not near as many as BP (8,700), but they are still out there.

I've recently been to Texas and Georgia. Lots of Texacos there. I had thought the brand gone, but now know that they just have fewer of them. I still remember when overnight all of the Texacos where I lived switched to being Shells.

 

[Captain Neon]

The irony is that Rockefeller was really a railroad guy that assembled Standard Oil to provide fuel for his locomotives and oil and grease to lubricate every thing else.

Well, it's not quite that bad. There are three companies that have rights to the Standard name, but companies broken out of Standard in 1911 are now parts of ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Shell, Marathon and Sunoco. Still, like AT&T and the "baby bells", they've slowly reattached themselves to each other, at least in part. What these companies don't have, however, is the stranglehold on pipelines, shipping, railroads, etc that Standard had. Furthermore, since the formation of OPEC in 1960, oil companies have almost no say-so in the price, both of which were the government's biggest gripes with Standard.

 

[Captain Neon]

Rockefeller is believed have stated after they settled Morgan's estate, "He [Morgan] wasn't even a rich man."

Anyone else like say Andrew Carnegie, JP Morgan and a host of others from the time?