To some extent, I suppose that you could say that it is,
but in other ways it is not.
To me, the major
characteristics of the Gilded Age are 1) economic stratification between rich "robber
barons" and a mass of poor people and 2) political
corruption.
We do have increasing gaps between the rich and
the poor today. However, I do not think that the gaps are as dramatic and I do not
think that the numbers of poor are as high (percentage wise) as they were back then.
Most Americans today are solidly well off even if the very rich are way richer than the
rest of us.
Politically, there is no comparison. Sure, we
worry about politicians being corrupt now, but there is no real widespread corruption on
the level that was going on in the Gilded Age. Back then, people didn't elect the
Senate, for example, and Senators tended to be pretty much picked and "owned" by big
companies.
No comments:
Post a Comment