Comment Don't rest easy just yet... (Score 1) 95
In comparing the fiber glut to the railroad boom, let's not forget the dark side of history. The construction of the railroads enabled the massing of enormous fortunes for tycoons such as Pullman, Carnegie, Morgan, Vanderbilt, and Gould -- all names both famous and infamous in American history. All of these people, and many others whom I didn't name, were ruthless competitors, satisfied with nothing less than total monopoly and willing to use any means to accomplish this.
Such means included bribing government officials (even entire legislatures), sabotoging competitors' operations, illegally appropriating land through manipulation of the legal system, paying workers rock-bottom wages while showing reckless disregard for basic safety, and firing and brutalizing workers who had the temerity to join a labor union.
Perhaps an ominous reminder of all this, many cables today are in fact laid down alongside (you guessed it!) railroad tracks.
Such means included bribing government officials (even entire legislatures), sabotoging competitors' operations, illegally appropriating land through manipulation of the legal system, paying workers rock-bottom wages while showing reckless disregard for basic safety, and firing and brutalizing workers who had the temerity to join a labor union.
Perhaps an ominous reminder of all this, many cables today are in fact laid down alongside (you guessed it!) railroad tracks.
