re: Sankey screwed the pooch with the ESPN deal.

Simpler is history repeats

Monarchies controlled the old world

Folks fled to the New World and a new start

200 years later Monarchies started controlling the New World


People have the power, but only if they exercise to keep it

Not sure how we disconnect the modern age and get folks energized again.

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Pure Capitalism is the Robber Barons of the late 1800's

Government had to intervene on behalf of its citizens

Monopolies were broken 40 hour work week was instituted Child labor laws were enacted

When most hear Capitalism they need to hear Game Theory, Fair Markets, and Humanism. Since the 1980's we have been replacing Humanistic Capitalism with a Corporate Monarchy similar to the Hereditary Monarchy we fled Europe (and other parts of the world) to get away from.

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I don’t come to the rant for politics, but damn it is refreshing to see a little “context over ideology” in the zeitgeist.

Our fundamental flaw is the failure to acknowledge that too much of anything is a bad thing.

10 years ago I’d have blamed this on the US being a young country, but weirdly enough this seems to be a global issue.

So the other conferences have fox, CBS, NBC and all we have is ESPN. Well, ESPN, ABC, the SEC network/+. Who cares? I know I’ll be able to watch all SEC games on TV and the best of the week in prime time rather than 3:30 EST.

Sankey is a limp prick. Period. He has sat on his arse. Poor decisions that will lead to the end of the SEC and college football as we’ve known it. He has rubber stamped immediate money moves without looking at the big picture. I guess we should’ve known we would have shitty leadership sooner or later. Slive and Kramer had us spoiled. Visionaries who looked down the road. This clown needs to be sent without his pension.

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I don’t come to the rant for politics, but damn it is refreshing to see a little “context over ideology” in the zeitgeist.

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I am old and a moderate. I am also aware of the history when the Democrats and Republicans (The Democratic Republican Party) were the party of the people, merchants, farmers, workers, and trade people while the Federalist were the party of the landed gentry, bankers, and lawyers.

Modern media has inflamed "us vs them" thinking which allows click baiting over actual discussion. Both sides now blame the other side so each party can pick the wallets clean of their citizens. We have the foundations for representative government but until the citizens demand better by action, we will allow the Corporate Monarchies to gain strength and the people to become their wage slaves.

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Pure Capitalism is the Robber Barons of the late 1800's Government had to intervene on behalf of its citizens Monopolies were broken 40 hour work week was instituted Child labor laws were enacted When most hear Capitalism they need to hear Game Theory, Fair Markets, and Humanism. Since the 1980's we have been replacing Humanistic Capitalism with a Corporate Monarchy similar to the Hereditary Monarchy we fled Europe (and other parts of the world) to get away from. Wake Up America!

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Seeing a lot of traces of government education in these posts. The 1870’s - 1880’s were probably the closest to “unfettered capitalism” in America. It was also the time of the greatest wealth creation and quality of life increase in human history. These “monopolies” were characterized by increased production and decreasing prices (some monopoly) until politically connected business started bribing politicians for market regulation via The Sherman Anti Trust Act in which the government went after “bad trusts” and left alone connected or “good trusts”. Natural monopolies if they even exist don’t last long and big companies love regulation (hell they usually write it) because it provides a barrier to market entry.


The Problem With the Robber Baron Narrative

ESPN is likely to be sold. It’s becoming unsustainable with all the bad contracts they have like the NBA and streaming services are killing their revenue because they pay far less per subscription than cable or satellite which most people are moving away from. Disney isn’t going to subsidize ESPN when it becomes a money loser in 2024 or 2025.

Beth Mowins and Rod Gilmore will be the #1 broadcast team for SEC Football moving forward

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Cheap crappy products with little to no support after purchase make more money than quality products a company can stand behind and be proud of. Why? Because the market demands it. People would rather buy lots of cheap shite from China that works poorly and breaks quickly, than buy fewer items of quality that will work well and last. If people were truly clamoring for quality products, companies would make them. Fact is, they aren't.

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Preach. People get counterfeit shite on Amazon, return it, and continue to use the platform. People just don’t care Enough

ESPN could broadcast the blue blood SEC games with stadium sound only and people would still watch lol

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The Problem With the Robber Baron Narrative

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I read this and it is crap

Again it tries to blame "them" because "us" is right when in fact they are BOTH wrong.

Vanderbilt was. a rascal. Just because he "guided" his historical narrative late in life by giving away a tiny portion of his wealth for good press (see Bill Gates today) did not mean he did not destroy others in pursuit of his own gain. Most of the Vanderbilt wealth was actually created by his son through conservative (and less ruthless) business practices

Rockefeller was the junior partner (Standard Oil was started with Harkness (the financial backer), Flagler (the brains), and Rockefeller (the book keeper). Over time the Harkness family blew through their immense wealth (some descendants still live and work in the SEC footprint). Flagler used his immense wealth to create the state of Florida (giving away money and land to build schools, churches, and all sorts of European immigration - see also the Florida citrus Industry and the East Coast tourist development) as well indirectly giving rise to the wealth of UNC (his descendants play heavily here) and indirectly creating one of the wealthiest families in the State of Kentucky.

Flagler is an interesting study, in that he created immense wealth during his early years then in early middle age, walked away, and spent the rest of his life giving it away. Even more interesting he did so privately and would not allow anything he gave money for to put his name on anything. A reverse Trump if you will. Who would do that today?

It was the forced sale of Standard Oil to break their monopoly (after Harkness and Falgler were gone) that really created Rockerfellers wealth we talk about today. His descendants have increased that wealth and the former Standard Oil monopoly has been replaced by the the global oil monopolies like (Exxon Mobile) still held by the handful of families that own the new Corporate Monarchies

The bigger issue not addressed in that slanted article is that most Robber Barron's rose to power buy buying their way out of serving in the Civil War. After the Civil War this stopped and both World War I and World War II saw the deaths of the children of some of the most prominent holders of wealth. This reverted with the Korean War and by the Vietnam War we had started the modern day Robber Barons (George Bush served in WW II and his family was covered in oil wealth, his son did just the opposite and bought his way out of the war).

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Seeing a lot of traces of government education in these posts.

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You are seeing what you want, not what actually is. My family has served honorably in every American conflict from the French & Indian War to the current conflicts in the Middle East. I have been educated by those who fought and returned to make a better America. Because of this fight to not return to the European modeled monarchies they fled from in the first place.

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It was also the time of the greatest wealth creation and quality of life increase in human history.

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These are conflicting points

As example, Andrew Carnegie and the steel industry in the US. He amassed great wealth by being ruthless and driven to create his monopoly of steel. While he is seen as a great philanthropist toady it took 2 events and massive public outcry in the press to hold his feet to the fire.

The first was the flood that killed 3K to 5K (higher body count than 9-11)
The second was the strike where he hired private cops to kill folks

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Natural monopolies if they even exist don’t last long and big companies love regulation (hell they usually write it) because it provides a barrier to market entry.

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If Game Theory is correct you would be correct. However, Public Choice Theory - by Nobel Prize winner James Buchanan, says Game theory does not work because few with power and money can create barriers to the citizens of a country.

Educate yourself and quit relying out what others spoon feed you.