What similarities do you see during The Gilded Age that echo today

the first one

In terms of present day business models, all corporations continue to prioritize their profits by keeping expenses to a minimum. Doing so may come at the cost of their workers and in turn affect other aspects of production. While certain practices during the Gilded Age have long since been removed, corporations will go to great lengths in order to meet and exceed quarterly projections not just for themselves but their investors as well. This directly affects worker morale, creates an unwillingness to work, and an overall reduction in productivity. No laborer wants to merely be seen as an expendable asset or know that their employer is not looking out for their best interest.

The same can be seen from cultural and political standpoints. Most if not all companies are equal opportunity employers meaning they cannot disqualify someone based solely off their gender, creed, or sexual orientation. That doesn’t necessarily mean these practices don’t go on anymore though, they’re simply carried out under a different guise. Workers of all races continue to fight for equal access to opportunity especially here in the United States. Many people still have inherent biases that result in treating particular groups a certain way to attempting to undermine them socially and economically. In a way, corporations will always try to remind the individual just how powerless they are despite being essential to running a success business. Take the Great Railroad Strike for example, “general strikes brought Chicago and St. Louis to a halt. The events showed a new solidarity among workers and [those advocating for them]”. Although strikes do not happen very often nowadays, they are a powerful reminder just how important skilled laborers are to a functioning society no matter their status in the new industrial age.

second one

America’s gilded age was the period of most rapid economic development, but also the period of the most serious social problems. Political corruption was rampant. For example, administrative corruption, legislative and judicial problems were very serious. In terms of infrastructure, that was a time when Americans were focused on building industry, building infrastructure, and working hard at science and technology. The rise of social science and the progressive movement in the United States later promoted the political and administrative reforms in the United States and laid the foundation for the United States to become a modern democratic country.

In modern society, American politics still faces many problems similar to the gilded age, such as political corruption, economic monopoly, environmental damage, diplomatic relations, and food security. However, the United States has taken a lot of measures against these phenomena, actively promoting anti-monopoly, cracking down on financial fraud and financial monopoly, strengthening food and environmental supervision, working to protect labor welfare and increasing punishment for official corruption. In terms of present days, America’s richest 10% of households still own about three-quarters of the country’s wealth, and the richest 1% own 51% of the country’s private property. Similar to the gilded age, the United States was still in an era of capital accumulation, and the gap between the rich and the poor was wide.