Growth and Innovation in the American Economy

Souvenirs of War                 In 2019 Bernie Sanders gave George Washington University a speech about how he is the heir to Franklin Roosevelt’s revolutionary economic policies. [1] He has good reason to express himself as the next Roosevelt, given his popularity among the public. Much of the American public believe that the Great Depression was caused by fragile confidence that wrecked the US economy in 1929, but it was Roosevelt’s economic plans that saved the nation. His Keynesian policies, rarely challenged by historians due to his popularity in the United States. He rightly deserves credit for leading a nation in a time of war and building faith in a mostly isolationist public before the war. Nonetheless, it is necessary to challenge the interpretation of government economic oversight. It was not the fragile confidence in the economy that wrecked it in the economy, nor was it Roosevelt’s progressive policies that saved the US ec...

  Crony Capitalism in the Postbellum Economy             Charles Koch said that “Good profit can only result from creating value for the consumer. It is the manifestation of the entrepreneur’s respect for what the customer values.” [1] The postbellum economy of the United States existed between 1865-1900 and was volatile in the northern and southern regions. It was a time of great violence, uproar, contraction, rapid expansion, technology, robber barons, and corruption. These events created mixed value for the consumers in U.S. society, depending upon where they resided. While my future research focuses on the Soviet Union’s influence on Koch Industries, this piece focuses on two competing regions of the United States in the second half of the 19th century. Both regions experienced differing challenges as the south rebuilt their economy while northern economies contracted and expanded rapidly. It is necessary to understand t...

  Self-Immolation: Fred Koch and the USSR             Charles Koch and David Koch are criticized by left-wing politicians and the media for their vast wealth and politics. It is known they supported both Libertarian and Republican candidates in the past. Bernie Sanders went as far as to claim “The agenda of the Koch brothers is to repeal every major piece of legislation that has been signed into law over the past 80 years that has protected the middle class, the elderly, the children, the sick, and the most vulnerable in this country.” [1]  Contextually, this claim could not be farther from the truth. The Soviet Union depended on Winkler-Koch for their refinery process and technical expertise while simultaneously killing those that learned from Fred Koch.             Fred Koch never had a particular interest in Communism or left-wing politics, but he was more disgr...