If we could resurrect a robber baron from the late 19th century—someone like John D. Rockefeller or Andrew Carnegie—and sit them down in front of a modern financial news broadcast, they might not feel all that out of place. Sure, they wouldn’t understand the technology, but the underlying
story? That would be familiar: a handful of individuals amassing more wealth than entire nations, corporate monopolies crushing competition, workers struggling to survive while executives reap unimaginable profits.
And maybe they’d chuckle. Maybe they’d lean back in their chair, twirl their mustache, and say, “Ah, so nothing really changed.”
We call the late 19th century the Gilded Age—a phrase borrowed from Mark Twain, who saw through the glittering wealth of his time to the corruption, exploitation, and inequality beneath. The question we have to ask ourselves now is: Are we living through a second one? And if so, what comes next?
Déjà Vu in a Digital Age
The first Gilded Age was a period of staggering economic expansion, led by the rise of railroads, steel, oil, and finance. It produced monopolies, extreme wealth concentration, political corruption, and brutal working conditions. It also gave us figures like Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, and J.P. Morgan—men who reshaped the country, often at the expense of everyone else.
Does any of that sound familiar?
Fast forward to today. The industries have changed—data instead of steel, tech instead of oil, finance instead of railroads—but the power dynamics remain the same. Amazon, Google, Apple, and Meta are the new monopolies. Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg are the new industrial titans. Instead of child labor in textile mills, we have gig workers with no benefits, warehouse employees racing against the clock, and corporate offices demanding round-the-clock productivity. The power and wealth these figures wield are beyond what most Americans can even comprehend.
The numbers back it up: the top 1% of Americans now own more wealth than the bottom 90% combined. This is the kind of statistic that would make a 19th-century robber baron nod in approval.
The Return of the Monopolies
One of the defining features of the first Gilded Age was the rise of trusts and monopolies—companies that swallowed up competitors and dictated the rules of entire industries. Standard Oil controlled 90% of America’s oil refining. U.S. Steel was the world’s first billion-dollar corporation.
Today, the tech giants have achieved a similar level of dominance.
- Google controls 90% of the search engine market.
- Amazon accounts for nearly 40% of all e-commerce.
- Apple and Microsoft have a combined market cap of over $5 trillion.
For all the talk about the free market, the reality is that the modern economy is dominated by a few powerful corporations, just as it was in the late 19th century.
And let’s not forget about finance—an industry that, much like in the original Gilded Age, has become a playground for the ultra-rich. The biggest banks have only gotten bigger, and the stock market often seems disconnected from the struggles of everyday Americans. In 2020, while millions lost their jobs, the stock market soared. Sound familiar?
Democracy for Sale
If the first Gilded Age had political machines like Tammany Hall and a Senate that was essentially a “millionaires’ club,” what do we have today? Lobbying. Super PACs. Corporate-funded elections.
The ultra-wealthy have more influence over government policy than at any time since the 19th century. They fund political campaigns, write laws through lobbying groups, and control the media narratives that shape public opinion. The result? A system where billionaires get tax breaks, corporations avoid regulation, and policies that benefit ordinary people get bogged down in endless gridlock.
The first Gilded Age ended with a wave of progressive reforms—trust-busting, labor laws, direct election of senators, antitrust regulations. The question now is: Are we headed for a similar reckoning? Or have the rules of the game changed?
What’s Different This Time?
There are a few key differences between now and the late 19th century:
- We have safety nets (Social Security, Medicare, minimum wage laws), though they’re fraying.
- We have labor protections, though corporations have spent decades undermining unions.
- We have democracy, but it’s increasingly under threat from money in politics, voter suppression, and misinformation campaigns.
The biggest difference? The first Gilded Age ended with a major course correction. The Progressive Era brought real reform. The Great Depression forced even more change. But in today’s world—where corporations are global, wealth is digital, and political influence is harder to track—will reform even be possible?
Or will we continue down this path, watching wealth accumulate at the top while the foundation cracks beneath us?
What Happens Next?
The first Gilded Age didn’t last forever. It gave way to the Progressive Era, the New Deal, the rise of labor movements, and the expansion of democracy.
But here’s the thing: those changes didn’t happen on their own. They happened because people fought for them—because workers went on strike, because journalists exposed corruption, because politicians (some of them, anyway) finally felt enough pressure to act.
If we’re in a second Gilded Age—and the evidence strongly suggests we are—then the real question isn’t “Are we reliving history?” It’s “What comes next?”
Because history doesn’t repeat itself exactly. But it rhymes. And the ending of this era? That’s still up to us.
