1904 Cartoon of Standard Oil

[uponit7771]

Have these oil companies ALWAYS been bastards?!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/a/a0/20060827233148!Standard_oil_octopus_loc_color.jpg

[Voltaire]

1. Yes

Always

[yella_dawg]

2. I think they may have invented some forms of bastardism.

[Ozymanithrax]

3. I should point out, people loved the oil back then...

They were classic progressives that opposed Trusts and Monopolies. A signature of classic progressives was their opposition to bussinesses that limited competition. They were very much in favor of small bussiness and individuals, "Wealth of Nations" type stuff.

[uponit7771]

4. Hmmm, then it looks like over the years they consilidated and morphed into what they were against

[Ozymanithrax]

6. Anti-trust, anti-monopolies relates directly to oppostion to big bussiness today.

So that part is still there. The ideas "Welath of Nations" absolutly opposed trusts, opposed monopolies and corporations. Smity even advocated for decent wages and government oversight of bussiness.

I'm going through a period where I am trying to udnerstand what the modern progressive movement really is and what it wants. I want to know how it is different from modern liberalism. So I ask questions when I can.

[Blue_Tires]

15. +1000

once upon a time we used to smash monopolies...now we prop them up...

[bobbolink]

24. That is so true. And the truth really does hurt. ALL of us.

:(

[hedgehog]

5. Not only that, but most of them (including BP) have some tie

to the original Standard Oil.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. The "Trusts" were broken up, for a good reason

but since Raygun they bought themselves enough of Congress to "deregulate" themselves back into the giant squid again.
Did you know that BOA holds most of the housing mortgages now?
Well, doesn't "hold them" since they were all sliced and diced and sold, but it does the collecting for mortgages.

[blindpig]

12. Capital, ya just can't keep an avaricious system down

As long as they've got the money(power), they'll be back...

Kill Capitalism

[corkhead]

8. updated by a beginner photoshopper...

[dixiegrrrrl]

19. Very nice!

Well illustrates what others have pointed out here...we have come full circle.

[no_hypocrisy]

9. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

[frustrated_lefty]

10. Nice art work

[joeybee12]

11. Yes...n/t

[pnorman]

13. The History Of The Standard Oil Company (by Ida Tarbell)

http://www.history.rochester.edu/fuels/tarbell/MAIN.HTM

[dixiegrrrrl]

20. Bless you !!!!

Ida Tarbell...how aptly named.
I had forgotten about her.

This guy also was a muckraker against Big Oil, back in the '20's...Upton Sinclair.
..

[pnorman]

28. "There Will Be Blood" is a movie loosely based on Upton Sinclar's novel "Oil".

I had marked it for ordering a few years` ago but had quite forgotten about it. Thanks for jogging my memory! Here it is on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/There-Will-Blood-Daniel-Day-Lewis/dp/B0013FXWU6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1276224457&sr=1-1

[dixiegrrrrl]

21. The Tarbell book is available in pdf form here:

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924096224799

(Since I dislike Adobe pdf I use the wonderful free Sumatra pdf reader to read and make pdf files.
Fast, non-bloated, free.)

[pnorman]

22. That's a great site. THANKS!

I've laid out a lot of $$$$$ over the years for e-books, and with no regrets. I'm also a Questia subscriber. But I'm finding that a lot of valuable books are available on-line and FREE! In some cases, that's the ONLY way to access them.

[dixiegrrrrl]

25. If you google free e books/free online books

wonderful things show up.
I have a list of about a dozen sites I use.
Gutenberg is great, btw,...Project Gutenberg is the place where you can download over 30,000 free ebooks to read.
And, copying them in Sumatra makes saving them so much faster, easier to read.

[pnorman]

26. I'm familiar with some of those sites, but not the one now under disussion.

Thanks for that Sunatra tip, as I had never heard of it till now. Here's the Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumatra_PDF

[HughMoran]

14. Of course

[Johonny]

16. see oil companies are friends with the underwater wild life

[alfredo]

17. No, sometimes they were assholes.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

18. Read Ludwell Denny's "We Fight for Oil"

A while back, I posted a link to a site that had this book in its entirety online. It has since disappeared; but you may be able to find a used copy somewhere.

It was written around 1930, and offers some interesting facts about the oil industry of pre-WWII.

[Jennicut]

23. Yes, look at the Teapot Dome Scandal and all that.

They have always been total assholes.

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. Tea Pot Dome

that will put that cartoon in ... context.

[harun]

29. There's something about seeing cash come out of the ground that changes a person.

[GReedDiamond]

30. CD cover art, 2008...

Band: Benedict Arnold & The Traitors http://www.BenedictArnoldAndTheTraitors.com
Artist: GERMS (Jaime Zacarias) http://www.Germs4u.com