We’ve always wanted to be treated like royalty, so the first time someone called us a robber baron, we thought we were on our way. After all, a Baron isn’t that far beyond a Duke or an Earl, and if that isn’t just the fanciest thing, we don’t know what is. But then, when we thanked the person for the compliment, they just sneered at us and said something nasty, so we decided we’d better take a deeper look at this whole “robber baron” thing.
As it turns out, a “robber baron” isn’t a royal designation at all. In fact, it’s a derogatory term from the late 19th century for someone who made a boatload of money using unscrupulous, shady, and sometimes downright horrible tactics to achieve their financial goals. Folks like John D. Rockefeller and Cornelius Vanderbilt were often referred to as robber barons: they were rich enough to be royalty, but they got there via some highly questionable means and methods.
While no one is disputing that folks like these changed the industrial and economic face of America in their time, and for the better in most cases, the business and employment practices of the robber barons led to the creation of all sorts of laws and regulations protecting workers, small businesses, and unions from corporate heavy-handedness like theirs.
