American Capitalism – The Cult of Wealth

One hundred twenty years ago, a capitalist Eldorado emerged in the USA, paving the way for today’s billionaires such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. How did the power of the super-rich consolidate, especially during the depression after 1929 or during Ronald Reagan's policy of deregulation and tax cuts in the 1980s?

Appointed Secretary of the Treasury in 1921, aluminium magnate Andrew Mellon developed the 'trickle-down' theory. But the millionaires' paradise collided with the economic crash of 1929, which plunged the USA into the Great Depression and mass unemployment. Could Roosevelt save America from dire economic straits?

In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan and the republicans pushed through policies of deregulation and tax cuts whilst Silicon Valley became the new Eldorado for young companies such as Apple and Microsoft. As the internet grew, capital flowed into big tech making huge fortunes and monopolies. The poor and middle classes paid their taxes and the rich paid less.