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That is an interesting way to compare wealth between time periods but I'm not sure it's the most valid method.

godelmachine 8y ago
You spoke my mind. For one, Rockefeller grew rich quickly coz there wasn’t as much regulation as compared to what Bezos had to face. On the other hand, Rockefeller wasn’t in the Internet age and Bezos banker on the exponential rise of internet. I am sure there are many more variables.
- arkis22 8y ago
  Ironically, Rockefeller's wealth grew quickly because of regulation. Trustbusters broke up Standard Oil into different companies and investors kept bidding up the prices of the different pieces.
- hugh4life 8y ago
  "For one, Rockefeller grew rich quickly coz there wasn’t as much regulation as compared to what Bezos had to face." Eh, Bezos got rich off of not having to pay state sales taxes while his brick and mortar competitors did. But AWS makes up for that IMO.
  - jacobush 8y ago
    Wait what? Makes up for it why? It's not like you couldn't virtualised servers elsewhere.
    - erikpukinskis 8y ago
      Anyone could have. Amazon did.
      - jacobush 8y ago
        What about Azure and Google Cloud and a bunch of smaller players? Several did and do, not just Amazon.
        erikpukinskis 8y ago
        They followed.
- nickjj 8y ago
  One of those variables is likely tax rates. Back then, federal income tax was way way lower than what it is today. At some point the highest income tax bracket was 7% but today it's 37%. I'm not a history buff but Google says social security taxes first started in 1937. That could be potentially another 13% less taxes paid back then. Also Google says corporate tax was hovering around 12% during the 1920s but it's upper 30%s now. Imagine how fast you could gain wealth if the govt. only took 20% of your income instead of 50%.
  - cma 8y ago
    Yeah and imagine Amazon without the ground work of Arpanet.
- skookumchuck 8y ago
  Rockefeller rode the boom in use of kerosene and oil for an industrial economy. Bezos rode the boom in the internet revolution.
claytonjy 8y ago
Agreed; it's the same GDP vs wealth comparison often railed against on here. Comparing a rate-of-gain with an amount-of-same-thing-already-gained is unsound at best, if not outright misleading. If we're going to use GDP on one side, we should measure how much Rockefeller/Bezos is gaining each year on the other. If we want to use their individual wealth, we should compare to total wealth of all US persons.

You spoke my mind. For one, Rockefeller grew rich quickly coz there wasn’t as much regulation as compared to what Bezos had to face. On the other hand, Rockefeller wasn’t in the Internet age and Bezos banker on the exponential rise of internet. I am sure there are many more variables.

arkis22 8y ago
Ironically, Rockefeller's wealth grew quickly because of regulation. Trustbusters broke up Standard Oil into different companies and investors kept bidding up the prices of the different pieces.
hugh4life 8y ago
"For one, Rockefeller grew rich quickly coz there wasn’t as much regulation as compared to what Bezos had to face." Eh, Bezos got rich off of not having to pay state sales taxes while his brick and mortar competitors did. But AWS makes up for that IMO.
- jacobush 8y ago
  Wait what? Makes up for it why? It's not like you couldn't virtualised servers elsewhere.
  - erikpukinskis 8y ago
    Anyone could have. Amazon did.
    - jacobush 8y ago
      What about Azure and Google Cloud and a bunch of smaller players? Several did and do, not just Amazon.
      - erikpukinskis 8y ago
        They followed.
nickjj 8y ago
One of those variables is likely tax rates. Back then, federal income tax was way way lower than what it is today. At some point the highest income tax bracket was 7% but today it's 37%. I'm not a history buff but Google says social security taxes first started in 1937. That could be potentially another 13% less taxes paid back then. Also Google says corporate tax was hovering around 12% during the 1920s but it's upper 30%s now. Imagine how fast you could gain wealth if the govt. only took 20% of your income instead of 50%.
- cma 8y ago
  Yeah and imagine Amazon without the ground work of Arpanet.
skookumchuck 8y ago
Rockefeller rode the boom in use of kerosene and oil for an industrial economy. Bezos rode the boom in the internet revolution.

claytonjy 8y ago

Agreed; it's the same GDP vs wealth comparison often railed against on here. Comparing a rate-of-gain with an amount-of-same-thing-already-gained is unsound at best, if not outright misleading. If we're going to use GDP on one side, we should measure how much Rockefeller/Bezos is gaining each year on the other. If we want to use their individual wealth, we should compare to total wealth of all US persons.