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In real life, the Gilded Age featured "robber barons," who were people who became extremely wealthy through ruthless business practices.  The worst "robber baron" was Jay Gould, a financier on Wall Street who committed rampant fraud by printing false stock certificates to defraud investors.  He even tried to corner the gold market in 1869.  That led to a financial panic known as Black Friday.  After Gould drove up the price of gold by hoarding it, President Grant learned of the scheme and started selling the government gold reserves on the market to cause the price to fall.  The price of gold then fell sharply, and many lost their savings.  Gould, however, had sold out at the highest price to make the biggest profit!

In real life, the Gilded Age featured "robber barons," who were people who became extremely wealthy through ruthless business practices.  The worst "robber baron" was Jay Gould, a financier on Wall Street who committed rampant fraud by printing false stock certificates to defraud investors.  He even tried to corner the gold market in 1869.  That led to a financial panic known as Black Friday.  After Gould drove up the price of gold by hoarding it, President Grant learned of the scheme and started selling the government gold reserves on the market to cause the price to fall.  The price of gold then fell sharply, and many lost their savings.  Gould, however, had sold out at the highest price to make the biggest profit!

There were also phenomenal business successes during this era.  Andrew Carnegie immigrated from Scotland without any money and ended up with massive wealth from founding the Carnegie Steel Co. (later became U.S. Steel Co.).  He amassed a fortune that he then donated to build structures like Carnegie Hall, Carnegie-Mellon University, and the enormous New York Public Library (plus 2800 other public libraries).  He wrote the "Gospel of Wealth" in 1900 to describe his vision of capitalism.

There were also phenomenal business successes during this era.  Andrew Carnegie immigrated from Scotland without any money and ended up with massive wealth from founding the Carnegie Steel Co. (it later became U.S. Steel Co.).  He amassed a fortune that he then donated to build structures like Carnegie Hall, Carnegie-Mellon University, and the enormous New York Public Library (plus 2800 other public libraries).  He wrote the "Gospel of Wealth" in 1900 to describe his vision of capitalism.

'''Debate:  it wasn't the "Gilded Age," it was the "Golden Age!"  Agree?'''

'''Debate:  it wasn't the "Gilded Age," it was the "Golden Age!"  Agree?'''