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[1] Stephen Schneider. 2025. Robber Baron: United States History. https://www.britannica.com/money/robber-baron "Among the earliest of the robber barons was John Jacob Astor, a fur magnate who amassed his fortune through the monopoly held by his American Fur Company over the trade in the central and western United States during the first 30 years of the 19th century." (n.p.)

[2] Stephen Schneider. 2025. Robber Baron: United States History. https://www.britannica.com/money/robber-baron "Robber baron, pejorative term for one of the powerful 19th-century American industrialists and financiers who made fortunes by monopolizing huge industries..." (n.p.)

[3] Will Kenton. 2025. Robber Barons: Definition, Significance, Criticism, and Examples. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/robberbarons.asp "Robber barons were widely despised and considered rapacious monopolists during their lifetimes." (n.p.)

[4] Will Kenton. 2025. Robber Barons: Definition, Significance, Criticism, and Examples. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/robberbarons.asp "A chief complaint against the 19th-century capitalists was that they were monopolists." (n.p.)

[5] Will Kenton. 2025. Robber Barons: Definition, Significance, Criticism, and Examples. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/robberbarons.asp "The term appeared in American newspapers in 1859. Its modern use stems from Matthew Josephson’s The Robber Barons." (n.p.)

[6] Stephen Schneider. 2025. Robber Baron: United States History. https://www.britannica.com/money/robber-baron "Made fortunes by monopolizing huge industries through the formation of trusts, engaging in unethical business practices, exploiting workers, and paying little heed to their customers or competition." (n.p.)

[7] Stephen Schneider. 2025. Robber Baron: United States History. https://www.britannica.com/money/robber-baron "Exploiting workers, and paying little heed to their customers or competition." (n.p.)

[8] Stephen Schneider. 2025. Robber Baron: United States History. https://www.britannica.com/money/robber-baron "These monopolies were built upon... fraud." (n.p.)

[9] Stephen Schneider. 2025. Robber Baron: United States History. https://www.britannica.com/money/robber-baron "Astor routinely paid off politicians to protect his business interests." (n.p.)

[10] Will Kenton. 2025. Robber Barons: Definition, Significance, Criticism, and Examples. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/robberbarons.asp "Robber barons were widely despised and considered rapacious monopolists during their lifetimes." (n.p.)

[11] Stephen Schneider. 2025. Robber Baron: United States History. https://www.britannica.com/money/robber-baron "These monopolies were built upon... tactics that are today the hallmark of organized crime: intimidation, violence, corruption, conspiracies, and fraud." (n.p.)

[12] Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2019). Progressive Wealth Taxation. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2019(2), 437–533. https://sci-hub.se/10.1353/eca.2019.0017 "Income and wealth inequality have increased dramatically in the United States over the last decades..." (p.437)

[13] Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2019). Progressive Wealth Taxation. https://sci-hub.se/10.1353/eca.2019.0017 "The share of wealth owned by the top 0.1 percent has doubled, from less than 10 percent in 1980 to almost 20 percent today." (p.439)

[14] Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2019). Progressive Wealth Taxation. https://sci-hub.se/10.1353/eca.2019.0017 "There is a renewed political demand to use progressive taxation to curb the rise of inequality..." (p.438)

[15] Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2019). Progressive Wealth Taxation. https://sci-hub.se/10.1353/eca.2019.0017 "According to Forbes, the share of wealth owned by the four hundred richest Americans has almost quadrupled from 0.9 percent in 1982 to 3.3 percent in 2018." (p.439)

[16] Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2019). Progressive Wealth Taxation. https://sci-hub.se/10.1353/eca.2019.0017 "A long-standing concern with wealth concentration is its effect on democratic institutions and policymaking." (p.437)

[17] Will Kenton. 2025. Robber Barons: Definition, Significance, Criticism, and Examples. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/robberbarons.asp "Later biographies and historical reviews... cast a more complicated and favorable light." (n.p.)

[18] No corresponding quote found.

[19] Oxfam International. 2022. Pandemic creates new billionaire every 30 hours — now a million people could fall into extreme poverty at same rate in 2022. https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/pandemic-creates-new-billionaire-every-30-hours-now-million-people-could-fall "Billionaires have enjoyed a huge boost to their fortunes." (n.p.)

[20] Oxfam International. 2022. Pandemic creates new billionaire every 30 hours... https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/pandemic-creates-new-billionaire-every-30-hours-now-million-people-could-fall "For every new billionaire created... nearly a million people could be pushed into extreme poverty..." (n.p.)

[21] Oxfam International. 2022. Pandemic creates new billionaire every 30 hours... "573 people became new billionaires during the pandemic, at the rate of one every 30 hours." (n.p.)

[22] Oxfam International. 2022. Pandemic creates new billionaire every 30 hours... "Nearly a million people could be pushed into extreme poverty at nearly the same rate." (n.p.)

[23] Oxfam International. 2022. Pandemic creates new billionaire every 30 hours... "Billionaires’ fortunes have not increased because they are now smarter or working harder." (n.p.)

[24] Oxfam International. 2022. Pandemic creates new billionaire every 30 hours... "Workers are working harder, for less pay and in worse conditions." (n.p.)

[25] Oxfam International. 2022. Pandemic creates new billionaire every 30 hours... "They have seized a shocking amount of the world’s wealth as a result of privatization and monopolies, gutting regulation and workers’ rights..." (n.p.)

[26] Oxfam International. 2022. Pandemic creates new billionaire every 30 hours... "Billionaires’ wealth has risen more in the first 24 months of COVID-19 than in 23 years combined." (n.p.)

[27] Oxfam International. 2022. Pandemic creates new billionaire every 30 hours... "The total wealth of the world’s billionaires is now equivalent to 13.9 percent of global GDP." (n.p.)

[28] Oxfam International. 2022. Pandemic creates new billionaire every 30 hours... "Today, 2,668 billionaires... own $12.7 trillion, an increase of $3.78 trillion." (n.p.)

[29] Oxfam International. 2022. Pandemic creates new billionaire every 30 hours... "The world’s ten richest men own more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of humanity, 3.1 billion people." (n.p.)

[30] Oxfam International. 2022. Pandemic creates new billionaire every 30 hours... "The super-rich have rigged the system with impunity for decades..." (n.p.)

[31] Oxfam International. 2022. Pandemic creates new billionaire every 30 hours... "They are now reaping the benefits." (n.p.)

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[32] Reuters. (2025). Trump's inaugural brings the world's billionaire elites en masse to DC. “Among those seated prominently were the three richest men in the world: Elon

Musk, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, with a combined net worth of nearly $900 billion, according to Forbes.” (para. 2)

[33] Milmo, D. (2022). Elon Musk denies he sexually harassed attendant on private jet in 2016. The Guardian. “The alleged incident took place in 2016 and the settlement was agreed in 2018.” (para. 2)

[34] Milmo, D. (2022). “During the massage Musk ‘exposed his genitals’ and ‘touched her and offered to buy her a horse if she would ‘do more’, referring to the performance of sex acts’.” (para. 3)

[35] Luscombe, R. (2024). SpaceX accused of sexual harassment and discrimination in ex-workers’ suit. The Guardian. “Discrimination, crude sexual humor and harassment were commonplace among SpaceX managers who encouraged a frat-style atmosphere at Elon Musk’s company, a group of former employees has claimed in a civil rights complaint.” (para. 1)

[36] Milmo, D. (2022). “Without referring directly to the article, Musk tweeted on Friday that attacks against him should be ‘viewed through a political lens’...” (para. 5)

[37] Milmo, D. (2022). “SpaceX, the rocket company founded by Musk, paid the female attendant $250,000... in a severance settlement after a sexual misconduct claim...” (para. 1)

[38] Milmo, D. (2022). “Musk tweeted on Friday that attacks against him should be ‘viewed through a political lens’ and that he would continue to fight for ‘your right to free speech’.” (para. 5)

[39] Luscombe, R. (2024). “...the billionaire… defends his aerospace company against a separate federal accusation...” (para. 2)

[40] Reuters. (2025). “Musk, who spent upwards of $250 million on Trump's re-election bid… is perhaps the most well-situated.” (para. 3)

[41] Reuters. (2025). “There are questions about what will happen to federal investigations into him and his companies with Trump in office.” (para. 3)

[42] Reuters. (2025). “The globe's wealthiest individuals attended Trump's inauguration in Washington on Monday…” (para. 1)

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[43] Federal Trade Commission. (2023, September). FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/09/ftc-sues-amazon-illegally-maintaining-monopoly-power “The Federal Trade Commission and 17 state attorneys general today sued Amazon.com, Inc. alleging that the online retail and technology company is a monopolist that uses a set of interlocking anticompetitive and unfair strategies to illegally maintain its monopoly power.” (n.p.)

[44] Federal Trade Commission. (2023) “Amazon’s actions allow it to stop rivals and sellers from lowering prices... prevent rivals from fairly competing against Amazon.” (n.p.)

[45] Federal Trade Commission. (2023) “These tactics include... Anti-discounting measures... bury discounting sellers... Conditioning sellers’ ability... unlawful coercion... biasing Amazon’s search results to preference Amazon’s own products... sellers pay close to 50% of their total revenues to Amazon.” (n.p.)

[46] U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division. (n.d.). U.S. v. Microsoft: Proposed findings of fact. https://www.justice.gov/atr/us-v-microsoft-proposed-findings-fact-0 “Microsoft has engaged in a broad pattern of conduct to exclude or eliminate products... Microsoft began its attack on the middleware threat by proposing to Netscape that it agree not to compete... Microsoft made similar efforts to enter into illegal market-division agreements... engaged in a predatory and anticompetitive campaign.” (n.p.)

[47] U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division. (n.d.) “Microsoft tied its own, separate browser product, Internet Explorer, to its Windows operating systems... refused to sell Windows... without Microsoft’s browser... using another browser would be a ‘jarring experience’.” (n.p.)

[48] Kang, C., & Isaac, M. (2020, December 9). U.S. and states say Facebook illegally crushed competition. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/technology/facebook-antitrust-monopoly.html “The Federal Trade Commission and more than 40 states accused Facebook... of buying up its rivals to illegally squash competition... Facebook’s purchases, especially Instagram... and WhatsApp... eliminated competition.” (n.p.)

[49] Butler, D., Thadani, T., Martinez, E., Gregg, A., Melgar, L., O'Connell, J., & Keating, D. (2025). Elon Musk’s business empire is built on $38 billion in government funding. The Washington Post. “Over the years, Musk and his businesses have received at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax credits, often at critical moments, a Washington Post analysis has found, helping seed the growth that has made him the world’s richest person.” (n.p.)

[50] Garofalo, P. (2019). Facebook's tax breaks are thoroughly undeserved. But local governments think they're worth it. NBC News. “Facebook, along with tech brethren such as Amazon and Google, have been hoovering up loads of public cash on the grounds that they create growth and new jobs, but with precious little to show for the taxpayers’ investment other than debt and despair.” (n.p.)

[51] Butler, D. et al. (2025). “Over the years, Musk and his businesses have received at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax credits, often at critical moments...” (n.p.)

[52] Butler, D. et al. (2025). “The total amount is probably larger: This analysis includes only publicly available contracts, omitting classified defense and intelligence work for the federal government. SpaceX has been developing spy satellites for the National

Reconnaissance Office... The Wall Street Journal reported that contract was worth $1.8 billion...” (n.p.)

[53] Good Jobs First. (2020). Amazon’s $3.7 billion taxpayer gift. “State and local governments gave Amazon.com subsidies totaling more than $3.7 billion... some of the communities giving away big packages have had to make budget cuts or raise taxes on working families and small businesses.” (n.p.)

[54] Garofalo, P. (2019). “Facebook... have been hoovering up loads of public cash on the grounds that they create growth and new jobs, but with precious little to show for the taxpayers’ investment other than debt and despair.” (n.p.)

[55] Garofalo, P. (2019). “The deal is also emblematic of a wider trend in which big tech companies pit cities and states against each other in order to receive subsidies...” (n.p.)

[56] Good Jobs First. (2020). “Most of the deals are for Amazon’s rapidly expanding retail business... taxpayers have been subsidizing every aspect of the company’s sprawling operations...” (n.p.)

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[57] Vinton, K. (2016). These 15 Billionaires Own America's News Media Companies. Forbes. “Billionaires own part or all of several of America's influential national newspapers, including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.” (n.p.)

[58] Vinton, K. (2016) “Others, like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, bought publications as a side investment after building a substantial fortune in another industry.” (n.p.)

[59] Vinton, K. (2016) “Billionaires own part or all of several of America's influential national newspapers, including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.” (n.p.)

[60] Vinton, K. (2016) “Several other billionaires, including Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and Liberty Media Chairman John Malone, own or control cable TV networks that are powerful but not primarily news focused.” (n.p.)

[61] Vinton, K. (2016) “Others, like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, bought publications as a side investment after building a substantial fortune in another industry.” (n.p.)

[62] Vinton, K. (2016) “Some billionaires, like Rupert Murdoch and Michael Bloomberg are longtime media moguls who made their fortunes in the news business.” (n.p.)

[63] Vinton, K. (2016) “Others, like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, bought publications as a side investment after building a substantial fortune in another industry.” (n.p.)

[64] Reporters Without Borders. (2025). From Twitter to X, Elon Musk’s transformation from free speech defender to champion of disinformation. “Elon Musk also dismantled the

meager trust and safety safeguards in place when he took over Twitter and proceeded to arbitrarily ban journalists who were critical of him from the site.” (n.p.)

[65] Vinton, K. (2016) “While a billionaire secretly funding a lawsuit to take down a news outlet may be a new way of using money to influence the media business…” (n.p.)

[66] Arora, A. (n.d.). Hotstar Censors Disney Jokes in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Gadgets 360. “The Disney-owned streaming service has cut out jokes that poked fun at its corporate overlord from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver…” (n.p.)

[67] Arora, A. (n.d.) “This unnecessary self-censorship takes Hotstar to the early days of Amazon Prime Video in India, when the Jeff Bezos-owned streaming service had opted to blur most nudity and excise all forms of profanity…” (n.p.)

[68] Reporters Without Borders. (2025) “Elon Musk also dismantled the meager trust and safety safeguards in place when he took over Twitter…” (n.p.)

[69] Elsässer, L., Hense, S., & Schäfer, A. (2018). Government of the people, by the elite, for the rich: Unequal responsiveness in an unlikely case (MPIfG Discussion Paper, No. 18/5). Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies. “Empirical studies have shown that American politics is heavily tilted in favor of the wealthy, as political decisions tend to reflect the preferences of the rich, while largely ignoring those of the poor and middle classes.” (p. 3)

[70] Elsässer, L. (2018) “As the bulk of party and campaign funding comes from a relatively small number of large donors, these scholars see a systematic dependence of policy-makers on affluent donors and interest groups as the core problem of the American system” (p. 4)

[71] Elsässer, L. (2018) “As the bulk of party and campaign funding comes from a relatively small number of large donors…” (p. 4)

[72] Reuters. (2025, January 21). Trump's inaugural brings the world's billionaire elites en masse to DC. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-inaugural-brings-worlds-billionaire-elites-en-masse-dc-2025-01-21/ “Musk... has been tabbed to lead a new panel to find ways to cut government spending, is expected to push for speedier regulatory approval... there are questions about what will happen to federal investigations into him and his companies with Trump in office.” (n.p.)

[73] Reuters (2025) “Musk, who spent upwards of $250 million on Trump's re-election bid... is perhaps the most well-situated.” (n.p.)

[74] Amladi, D. (2025). How are billionaire and corporate power intensifying global inequality? Oxfam America. https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/how-are-billionaire-and-corporate-power-intensifying-global-inequality/

“Monopolistic corporations can control markets, set the rules and terms of exchange with other companies and workers, and set higher prices without losing business.” (n.p.)

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[75] Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2019). Progressive Wealth Taxation. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2019(2), 437–533. https://doi.org/10.1353/eca.2019.0017 “Aggregate household wealth has increased from about three times the annual national income around 1980 to about five times the national income in 2018.” (p. 439)

[76] Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2019) “This increase has been driven by a rise in asset prices rather than capital accumulation, as the replacement cost value of the capital stock has remained constant relative to national income.” (p. 439)

[77] Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2019) “We show that the wealth tax base above the 99.9th percentile is large, about $12 trillion in 2019 (about 60–70 percent of national income).” (p. 439)

[78] Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2019) “With perfect enforcement, a 1 percent marginal tax on the top 0.1 percent would thus raise about $120 billion (about 0.6 percent–0.7 percent of national income).” (p. 439)

[79] Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2019) “As a result, when combining all taxes at all levels of government, the U.S. tax system now resembles a giant flat tax.” (p. 439)

[80] Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2019) “All groups of the population pay rates close to the macroeconomic tax rate of 28 percent, with a mild progressivity up to the top 0.1 percent and a significant drop at the top end.” (p. 439)

[81] Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2019) “...effective tax rates of 23 percent for the top four hundred richest Americans.” (p. 439)

[82] Orth, T. (2024). Most Americans support raising taxes on billionaires. YouGov. https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/43956-most-americans-support-raising-taxes-billionaires “A majority of Americans (57%) believe billionaires are currently taxed too little in the U.S.” (n.p.)

[83] Orth, T. (2024) “Only one in four believe that billionaires pay the full amount of taxes they owe.” (n.p.)

[84] Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2019) “First, offshore tax evasion can be fought more effectively today than in the past, thanks to a recent breakthrough in cross-border information exchange.” (p. 439)

[85] Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2019) “Leveraging modern information technology, it is possible for tax authorities to collect data on the market value of most forms of household wealth and use this information to prepopulate wealth tax returns.” (p. 439)

[86] Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2019) “A comprehensive wealth tax base with a high exemption threshold and no preferential treatment for any asset classes can dramatically reduce avoidance possibilities.” (p. 439)

[87] Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2019) “The United States, moreover, has a citizenship-based tax system, making it much less vulnerable than other countries to mobility threats.” (p. 439)