Present Day Robber Barons or Captains of Industry

Robber Barons of Today? Directions: Today you will research Modern Day Businessmen and determine if they should be considered Robber Barons or Captains of Industry. You will build your research and then come to a conclusion based upon your findings, as well as compare them to a 19th Century businessmen of your choosing. Background: The most visible indicator of wealth inequality in America today may be the Forbes magazine list of the nation’s 400 richest. In 2018, the three men at the top of that list — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and investor Warren Buffett — held combined fortunes worth more than the total wealth of the poorest half of Americans. Over the past three decades, America’s most affluent families have added to their net worth, while those on the bottom have dipped into “negative wealth,” meaning the value of their debts exceeds the value of their assets. Background: Businessmen Background. Choose a business men from the list below are another of your choosing and conduct research answering the following questions. ● ● ● ● ● ● Mark Zuckerberg Jeff Bezos Warren Buffet Tim Cook Bill Gates Larry Ellison Businessmen Background Name of Businessmen What is their Role/ What Business are in they in? Net Worth Background of Company Charity Endeavors Directions: Conduct Research on the charity contributions your businessman has made 1. How much in Charity does this businessman give ? (Try to find for the year 2018 at the earliest) 2. What charities do they support? 3. What percentage of their income is this? Working Conditions: Research the Working conditions are which your businessman’s employees work under. 1. What are working conditions like for employees of this company? (Hours, conditions in which they work) - Site your source 2. What is the pay? What are the pay disparities between employees and businessmen? Political Cartoon Directions: Using google images find a political cartoon on your businessman and answer the questions. 1. What does the political cartoon depict? Who is featured 2. How does the political cartoon show your businessman? 3. What is the overall message of the cartoon? Making a Comparison: Complete the Venn Diagram Comparing your Businessman with an Industrialist from the 19th Century (Choose 1). Drawing Conclusions 1. Based upon the evidence you have gathered, would your argue that your 21st Century businessmen is a Robber Baron or a Captain of Industry. Explain in a Paragraph _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________