The Gilded Age: A Comparative Analysis

For decades, the role the government plays in the economy has been a heavily debated topic. The search to find a solution to this conundrum has been tedious and extensive, seemingly everyone having an opinion. A myriad of historical evidence demonstrates that the government should have a large and expansive role in the economy. The faults of both the Gilded Age and the Twenties combined with the solutions that emerged from the Progressive Era, The New Deal, and World War II provide extensive evidence to this claim. The Gilded Age was very true to its name: glimmering on the surface, yet contemptible and unscrupulous just below. This period is characterized by rampant political corruption, business prosperity, and poor quality of life for the average worker. The government did virtually nothing to control businesses because business owners would bribe politicians to vote in favor of their business. Frequently, business owners went into politics because they had the means to do so. Large businesses would become even more powerful by consolidation with other large companies to form monopolies. These inequitable practices were widely unpopular to common citizens and a new movement was born (Carson & Bonk, 1999, p. 293). The Gilded Age spawned the …show more content…
During this age, large companies began to merge and consolidate to reduce competition and raise prices. At first the government did not break them up, so monopolies dominated industries including oil, sugar, tobacco, copper, smelting and refining, and meatpacking. These mergers eliminated competition and suppressed small businesses and ruined the chance that anyone else could be successful in that industry (Carson & Bonk, 1999, p. 293). This entire situation was all caused by lack of government supervision in business. Without government regulation, the economy was unstable, unbridled, and