I like VDH, and there are many good points in this piece, but the B.S. phrase “.... But Amazon, Facebook and Google operate virtual monopolies, the influence of which exceeds the oil, rail, steel, and banking trusts of the Gilded Age.” is simply silly. Few Americans had a choice about using, albeit occasionally indirectly, oil, rail and steel, but no one *needs* Google, Amazon or Facebook to survive or even have an enjoyable life.
Tell that to the senior shut-in who depends on all three to allow him to stay at home rather than risk his neck on the road or move to an assisted living facility.
That being said, I don’t want them regulated. I want a free-wheeling capitalist economy that allows competition to flourish that will give said 3 companies a run for their money.
But oil, steel, railroads, and banks? They made every aspect of commerce work in 19th century America. Everybody was touched by them every single day. Every product you purchased was delivered and likely financed by those industries.
The liberal epithet of "robber barons" makes me furious. Read "The Myth of the Robber Barons: A New Look at the Rise of Big Business in America" by Burton W. Folsom for a more honest appraisal of the men who built businesses and transformed America.
This concept of "need" is subjective in modern society. A lot of people believe they need something, and so it has the equivalence in their mind to a real need.
Did people need to ride the rail road? Couldn't they have just walked? Or stayed put?
Need is a matter of opinion. It isn't treated as an absolute.