Warren Buffett American Growth

The article, “Creating the System: Railroads and the Modern Corporation”, informs us all about the development of the transcontinental railroad and how it helped drive the nation west and also transformed western North America into a economy that had many opportunities. The railroads have always interested me when it comes to this period of time. What I learned from the reading that I didn’t know before was that the Western railroads were primary carriers of grain, other agricultural produce, livestock, coal, lumber and minerals. Also seeing the prices that the farmers shipped their products for, and what they paid for the freights rates was very interesting. Overall, if the railroads wouldn’t have been built in a time when there was so little

Railroad construction contributed much of the robber barons’ wealth at this time and made them into what is known and taught today. The railroads also created millionaire estates owned by the very wealthy. Farms and factories spread across the lands that the railroad touched and brought people to places they never could a thought of going to. Many cities and towns sprung up along the routes and a boom in job employment followed. The men who created and controlled these railroads are Leland Stanford, Jay Gould, Collis P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Charles Francis Adams Jr., and other big business tycoons. The boldness of these Entrepreneurs had a huge impact on the landscape of America at the time and of today. Many of these Robber Barons took

Although the railroad was doing a lot to benefit the economy positively there were other factors that harmed it as well. The years of 1873 to 1897 was known as the Great Depression. Many companies at the time were in competition with one another. Many companies and the Railroads made an attempt to structure and control the market place. “Pools” were created to group competing companies and create fixed prices. “Trusts” were also created where various companies were all under control of single director. At the time there were many small companies that eventually merged into one large corporation. So many of these companies merged

In the later chapters Folsom talks more about these great entrepreneurs. The second chapter of the book talks about the transcontinental railway tycoon, James J. Hill. Hill built the Great Northern without any government aid while remaining highly profitable and efficient. Hill, unlike others, meticulously planned his railways and mapped out the best routes using the least amount of rail possible, while his competitors went for expensive, subsidy draining scenic routes. Folsom proves by using efficiency, price

We grew domestically, but we were also able to supply the market with new materials. A 2014 study represents major imports and exports. The data portrayed by Document F, suggests 329 million tons of exports and 171 million tons of imports. As manufacturing increased, railroads were an opportunity to transport these materials more efficiently. By exporting goods by railroad, we were able to share materials found in America with countries across the world. Farmers also benefited from railroads because they could could ship raw materials at a low

Richard White’s 2011 book titled Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America is about the corrupt and mismanaged transcontinental railroads and bold arguments of the story how they came and went. In this book White describes how the construction of the transcontinental railroads across the US in the late nineteenth century would change America socially, economically, and politically. He also describes the companies that built these railroads and argues with three main points on why they were corrupt companies. First I’d like to go over the three different ways that the railroads would affect America, socially, economically, and politically.

Drivers realize that the price of gas is tied to the market value of crude oil, and has a direct impact to their daily commutes, errands, and vacations. However the reality is that the price of fuel has implications much grater than most consumers realize. Fuel prices affect nearly everything we purchase. For example, the price of farm commodities and food increase because farmers pay more for the fuel for their farm equipment and trucking firms pay more for fuel to get the commodities to market. These shipping “fuel surcharges” impact all goods

On May 10, 1869 as the “Last Spike” struck by Leland Stanford now connected the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads across the United States at Promontory Summit in the Utah Territory. The transcontinental railroads now complete and America is now destined to move to the forefront of the world’s stage. This new railroad system encouraged the growth of American businesses and promoted the development of the nation’s public discourse and intellectual life.1 At the same time, this new railroad affected many people positively

The Transcontinental Railroad was one of the most ambitious engineering projects, economic stimulants, and efficient methods of transportation in the early United States. If completed, the United States would be truly be united from east to west. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the Transcontinental Railroad helped develop new opportunities for many aspects of American life.

This year we have seen more electric and hybrid vehicle startups than ever before.” (Morrison) Nearly everyone recognizes the benefits of the shift, both in terms of how it would help our environment in the long term, but also the economic impact it would have, (reduced gas costs, lower electric and other utilities bills... etc.) But still, many large companies work to impede the progress in favor of maintaining our dependence on fossil fuels. The American Petroleum institute has worked with many oil industry protection companies to stymie the renewable energy movement, even in some cases, “posing as environmentalist groups in order to attract the support of environmentalists while simultaneously pushing their anti-renewable agenda.” (Blankenhorn) Many of these companies striving against renewable energy also support the building of the Keystone pipeline, using the justification that the building of the pipeline would lower gas prices. But what they fail to acknowledge is the basic economic fallacy of this, “Fossil energy prices are not going to fall. The more you remove carbon-based resources from the ground, the more it costs to get more.”

American was a prosperous country with incredible economic growth between the end of Reconstruction and the Great Depression. It was during this time that "industrial expansion went into high gear because increasing manufacturing efficiencies enabled American firms to cut prices and yet earn profits for financing still better equipment (Henretta 488)." During this era, the manufacturing of steel, the construction of railroads, factories, and warehouses, and the growing demand for technological advancements, increased greatly. Philanthropists, such as Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon, and John D. Rockefeller, took advantage of the situation they were in by investing large sums of capital into the growing economy. Carnegie constructed

Railroads became extremely popular in America in the 1800’s. The railroad industry itself began to boom; it was supported by its reputation for speed and efficiency. But, along with the booming industry of railroads came the strong debate that

The trucking industry is the “life blood” of the United States economy. Carrying 9.2 billion tons in freight accounting for a little over 600 billion dollars in total revenue. (7: http://tinyurl.com/n5hfx3r)Whiles these numbers represent the trucking industry as a whole, AM trucking will be specializing in a certain field known as “oilfield trucking”. Oilfield trucking is largely dependent on the oil and gas industry, which is continually booming. With fossil fuel rich regions in Wyoming, North Dakota and Texas, the United States is set to surpass Saudi Arabia as the biggest oil and gas producer in the world. (6: p39lj94). With such a positive outlook for the future of the oil and gas industry, it insures a positive outlook for the oil field trucking industry, because everyone needs trucks, from moving rigs and equipment, to hauling oil and water away, and ‘frack’ sand and base rock. “Right now, every company is hurting for that.”(In reference to oil field trucking companies) (7: n5hfx3r)

By establishing these set shipping rates with the railroad companies, it not only made it impossible for his competitors to stay in business, but it also allowed Rockefeller to establish a strong relationship with a key method of transportation for shipping products (Biography). By establishing a strong relationship with the railroad companies, Rockefeller was able to use his successful business practice to “control over 90 percent of the nation’s oil-refining industry by 1880” (The New Tycoons). As time continued on and his business became more successful, he also applied another clever business strategy known as vertical integration. This process consisted of a company purchasing and controlling each and every step of one’s industry production process. Rockefeller’s company used this process very efficiently as they “became known to manipulate crude oil prices to drive refineries to bankruptcy, allowing him to buy them cheaply” (Epstein). By controlling each production step, he was able to minimize costs by removing any companies from the middle that were previously completing steps on the way to the finish product. Rockefeller was also known to manipulate prices of crude oil in order to drive his competing refineries into bankruptcy which allowed him to buy them cheaply (Epstein). However, his economic beliefs and ideas were not the only strategies which John Rockefeller used to elevate his business and personal profile to a national level and

Delivery of crude oil via railroad increased 2,309% from 2011 to 2014. Railroads provide greater flexibility than pipelines. It provides greater flexibility due to once pipes are laid out, it is very difficult and expensive to be changed to a different route. It is a more economical mode of transportation than trucks. In 2014, rail deliveries accounted for 2.5% of oil delivered to refineries in the U.S. That number is up from 1% in 2013. A train can hold up to 100 rails and each rail can hold about 30,000 gallons of product.