Rockefeller: The Richest American Who Ever Lived | 5 Minute Video
Was America’s first billionaire, John D. Rockefeller, a greedy robber baron, a generous philanthropist, or both? And did the oil tycoon exploit America’s poor or give them access to much-needed energy? Historian and Hillsdale College professor Burt Folsom, author of “The Myth of the Robber Barons,” reveals the truth about the Rockefeller empire.
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Script:
He was called “the most hated man in America.” Yet the New York Times described him as “the world’s greatest giver.” He was America’s first billionaire. And he gave half of it away. He was the quintessential so-called “Robber Baron” of the Gilded Age. But he was probably more responsible than any other single individual for the creation of the American middle class and the development of America as a great industrial power. He lived in a splendid mansion. But was so worried about spoiling his children that he dressed them in hand me down clothes. Song lyrics were written about him. But he rarely went to social events.
His name was John D. Rockefeller. And his story is uniquely American.
Born in upstate New York in 1839, he did not have an easy childhood. His father was a part time salesman and a full time philanderer. Rockefeller’s mother assured John that God was the father who would never let him down. Rockefeller absorbed that message. It guided his life. Deeply religious, he put into practice the spiritual law “Give and it shall be given unto you.” From his teenage years to his dying day, Rockefeller always gave a portion of his income to charity.
Rockefeller’s special gift to the world was kerosene, cheap kerosene, cheap enough that anyone could buy it. Before the formation of his signature company, Standard Oil, people lit their homes with candles and heated them with coal or wood. The candles were dim and the coal was dirty. Rockefeller’s affordable kerosene — processed crude oil — made the world brighter, warmer, cleaner, and better — for everyone. “We must ever remember,” Rockefeller wrote to one of his partners in 1885, “we are refining oil for the poor man and he must have it cheap and good.”
Rockefeller loved the business of business. He attended to every detail — always with the same goal, saving the customer money. That he made so much of it himself was a byproduct. He was also scrupulously honest. His first partner, Maurice Clark said, “If there was a cent due a customer, he wanted the customer to have it.”
Rockefeller displayed genius at getting creative ideas from his employees at Standard Oil. He paid them well — and rarely had labor problems. He generously rewarded his chemists and engineers when they found new ways to get more kerosene out of a barrel of oil. Other oil refiners dumped oil waste into nearby rivers. That repulsed Rockefeller who was perhaps the greatest environmentalist of his age. Not only was he a great lover of nature, he was the ultimate recycler. He believed there was a God-given use for every particle in a barrel of oil and he was determined to find it.
After the kerosene had been removed, Rockefeller’s staff found uses for the remaining components: the gasoline as fuel, some of the tars for paving, and other by-products to manufacture paint, varnish, and even anesthetics.
It’s hard to imagine that the automobile industry would have even come into existence without the availability of Rockefeller’s cheap oil. When Henry Ford was ready with his Model-T, Rockefeller was ready to supply the gas.
For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/rockefeller-richest-american-who-ever-lived
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Envie is the biggest sin.
this is genuinely the dumbest shit I've seen in my life lmao, if u have a middle school grasp of mathematics u would understand how insane this is
"When I came in in the oil industry, there was chaos, I brought order.
I'd took a second rate inefficient market and built an industry.
It was done the way it was.
Cause that's the way it had to be done.
No one complained when I brought light to every homes.
No one complained when I provided thousands of jobs or millions of dollars in exports.
Oil is what this country runs on.
You called it a monopoly. I called it enterprise.
Now you tell me, why am I here?!"
— John D. Rockefeller
I remember there was nasty Strike out west and JD's son had to go fix it. Perhaps it was this strike that cause the bad image.. This video did surprised me how generous he was. I had no idea.
It was about the forced dumbing down of the population (via his public education system) to be just smart enough to run the machines, but dumb enough to not question the paper work.
Centralized (controlled) everything. No small businesses, no entrepreneurs, no questions why, no demanding of rights, etc, etc.
“No labor problems“⁉️‼️…really, this is when they had children working in factories right 🤔🧐
Very disappointing video to me. I am a little bit shocked that PU let this one roll.
Ignoring he was a union buster and killed small businesses, and he became hated not because of the education system but because of ida tarbells article "history of standard oil" and all of the things that he did that not helped but harmed the working man.
But, But, But . . . rich people are greedy and evil. lol
When Rockefeller was called into US Congress to testify, he tried to explain how because of him and his companies, the retail price of kerosene and other petrol products went DOWN almost every year — year after year. Yes, he had purchased his competitors or had run them out of business due to his selling at such low prices, but the general public BENEFITTED from this with lower prices. That Rockefeller had a Monopoly on the Petrol Industry was irrelevant — every time he acquired another company he made that company the most efficient operation possible and continued to lower the price of Kerosene for everybody.
Rockefeller did not understand why the US Government wanted to break up Standard Oil. It was completely illogical.
In the end, the breakup caused Rockefellers income and wealth to be many times greater than it had been under Standard Oil. He smiled all the way to the bank. If America and Congress was envious of his wealth, the forced breakup only made him about 8 times richer.
The companies that were created when Standard Oil was broken up have pretty much re-merged with one or more of their former counterparts. So today, we are back with only a small handful of major petroleum companies, most of whom have roots from John D. Rockefeller.
This comes across as incredibly biased and over sympathetic. That on top of the fact that there are no mentions of sources really calls into question the integrity of PragerU and the supposedly true info they wish to convey.
When wealth people like Rockefeller give away 100's of millions as a philanthropist they are donating that money to help execute the wealthy elites multi-generational plan to change America from a Constitutional Republic to some akin to what China uses where those at the top are dictators.
I have many disagreement with Rockefeller but still I admire him for helping American and World Society to building the fast growing Modern Capitalist Society up to current level. His innovation in oil industry and oil byproduct is astonishing achievement
Hes the original Technocrat,If you hate agenda 2030 you might want to take it up with his kiddos because they are the ones behind it a literal brave new world, they are not Christians or philanthropists they just use it to hide there satanic agenda.
I would love to see a Prager University where students could get educated, not only via videos… but earning college degrees from that, PragerU is for me the best in America history of all times.
PragerU is the source of knowledge public and private universities rarely provide. And a source of wisdom, something that modern education lacks.
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“So why is he remembered today in the paradigm of a greedy capitalist”
Burt… he was a union buster
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John 3:16-21
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Mark 1.15
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Hebrews 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Jesus
He still died
Mansa Musa was the richest person to ever live
He literally crashed the world economy with a road trip
Cost Accounting… Making Money off All Scraps.
"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Matthew 19:24
WE NEED MORE OIL.
Rockefeller and insanely rich good. Self-determined working class bad.
This video has been brought to you by The Rockefeller Foundation. "Rewriting history to make our namesake seem less like an A-hole".
That's a crock of shit. All of it, and you know it. The Standard Oil Co. bought out all small oil businesses. Now, tell me another ashkenazi lie.
🇹🇿 🙏🔥🔥
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller
"The strike, called in September 1913 by the United Mine Workers, over the issue of union representation, was against coal mine operators in Huerfano and Las Animas counties of southern Colorado, where the majority of CF&I's coal and coke production was located. The strike was fought vigorously by the coal mine operators association and its steering committee, which included Welborn, president of CF&I, a spokesman for the coal operators. Rockefeller's operative, Lamont Montgomery Bowers,[93] remained in the background. Few miners actually belonged to the union or participated in the strike call, but the majority honored it. Strikebreakers (called "scabs") were threatened and sometimes attacked. Both sides purchased substantial arms and ammunition. Striking miners were forced to abandon their homes in company towns and lived in tent cities erected by the union, such as the tent city at Ludlow, a railway stop north of Trinidad.[94]
Under the protection of the National Guard, some miners returned to work and some strikebreakers, imported from the eastern coalfields, joined them as Guard troops protecting their movements. In February 1914, a substantial portion of the troops were withdrawn, but a large contingent remained at Ludlow. On April 20, 1914, a general fire-fight occurred between strikers and troops, which was antagonized by the troops and mine guards. The camp was burned, resulting in 15 women and children, who hid in tents at the camp, being burned to death.[94][95] Costs to both mine operators and the union were high. This incident brought unwanted national attention to Colorado.
Due to reduced demand for coal, resulting from an economic downturn, many of CF&I's coal mines never reopened and many men were thrown out of work. The union was forced to discontinue strike benefits in February 1915. There was destitution in the coalfields. With the help of funds from the Rockefeller Foundation, relief programs were organized by the Colorado Committee on Unemployment and Relief. A state agency created by Governor Carlson, offered work to unemployed miners building roads and doing other useful projects.[94]
The casualties suffered at Ludlow mobilized public opinion against the Rockefellers and the coal industry. The United States Commission on Industrial Relations conducted extensive hearings, singling out John D. Rockefeller Jr. and the Rockefellers' relationship with Bowers for special attention. Bowers was relieved of duty and Wellborn restored to control in 1915, then industrial relations improved.[94] Rockefeller denied any responsibility and minimized the seriousness of the event.[96] When testifying on the Ludlow Massacre, and asked what action he would have taken as Director, John D. Rockefeller Jr. stated, "I would have taken no action. I would have deplored the necessity which compelled the officers of the company to resort to such measures to supplement the State forces to maintain law and order." He admitted that he had made no attempt to bring the militiamen to justice.[97]"
Funny from our education system. The system he helped by single handed funding from The Rockefeller Foundation.
Ludlow massacre
I know that the original title was saying Rockefeller was the richest man, which is untrue, that was Mansa Musa who would be worth $400 billion today. Rockefeller is not the even the richest American. He is only worth $17 billion dollars. So stfu
I LOVE ME ,IM STILL ALIVE 🤓
Thank you for these marvelous videos! Truly educational and wholesome.