A Story Never Told
Burt Folsom told a wonderful tale of Americaan history that I was unaware of. The United States at one point was in no debt and was economically stable enough to pay off their debts when they did obtain a certain amount. I was shocked to hear from Folsom on how this changed into our current rising debt that increases every 30 seconds. The United States got so invested into the political entrepreneurship that they lost sight of the market entrepreneruship. They began to try to compete with other countries for economical power and invention status. The US wanted to keep up to par with the British in the Steam industry so instead of utilizing our own resources and people, they put all their eggs into one scheming Edward Collins. From what I could gather, Collins was a successful market entrepreneur in the field of steam. When the United States offered him a deal he then became the first known billionaire and financial crutch that the US would fear. The United States invested so much oney into him, he was able to take control of the steam market of the US and monopolize it. The US had relied so much on his sadvancements that he continued to raise his prices and further scam the US for more money. The further in debt the US became a saving grace, Vanderbilt, came along and offered to progress the steam industry in the US for half. This however, was a risky decision that the United States had to make. They could invest in someone that they don’t know if they will be successful or, they could continue to pay high prices for someone who would reliably produce what they needed. They also ran the risk of Collins ruining their entire economy since they had already invested so much into him.
What I think
I was shocked that the US would even let themselves get into this situation. The United States allowed their greed and cometetiveness to drive them into debt. They opened a gate to a world where they were no longer self sufficient. This talk also opened my eyes to the truth about political and market entrepreneurs, to be sucessful in the world you have to be both a political and a market entrepreneur. Collins was able to utilize his skills as a market entrepreneur to land him a spot with the US and earned their trust with his sucess and knowledge, which led to him becomonig a political entrepreneur and utilizing his power politically and economically to further benefit himself. After watching this, I now see that the both go had in hand, rather than being two separate forces. Having both skills working in tangent will allow you to go further with your market ventures.