In today’s issue:
- The rise of the railroads changed everything
- Economies transformed, fortunes made, societies reshaped and fortunes made
- Why a modern revolution of such transformative power could be unfolding in Britain right now – stay tuned for details this week
In the early 19th century, a revolutionary invention began spreading across Britain, the United States and beyond.
It wasn’t just a mode of transport – it was a force that reshaped entire economies, societies and, yes, fortunes.
The railroads weren’t merely tracks of iron, they were tracks to a new world, where distances shrank, industries boomed and wealth poured into the hands of those who seized the moment.
At first, the idea of railroads was met with scepticism. People feared them. Some believed trains would terrify livestock, prevent hens from laying eggs and even poison the air.
Yet, as steel rails began to stretch across the countryside, a quiet transformation turned into a roaring revolution.
It is hard to imagine how great an impact this had on the people at the time. Something couldn’t possibly happen on such a scale in Britain again… or could it?
Before answering that, we need to understand just how transformative the railroads were – and how they achieved it.
The rise of railroads
Before the railroads, the world moved at a snail’s pace. Goods travelled on canals, horse-drawn carriages or slow-moving ships.
Farmers, miners and manufacturers could produce all they wanted, but the speed and cost of transporting goods to market were painfully slow and expensive.
Railroads changed everything.
Suddenly, goods that once took weeks to reach their destination could arrive in days – or even hours. Farmers could sell fresh produce to cities hundreds of miles away. Factories could distribute their products to far-flung markets. Coal, iron and steel – vital to the burgeoning industries of the time – moved faster and cheaper than ever before.
The impact was staggering.
Entire industries, from textiles to mining to steel manufacturing, grew at breakneck speed. Towns sprang up along the railroad lines, transforming rural outposts into thriving centres of trade and commerce.
Cities grew larger, fuelled by a constant influx of workers and resources. The railroads not only connected places, but people, markets and ideas in ways that were previously unimaginable.
Transforming economies
The economic impact of railroads can’t be overstated.
In Britain, the Industrial Revolution was already underway, but the railroads acted as an accelerant, igniting growth on a scale no one had seen before.
Manufacturers could now operate on a national scale rather than a local one. Coal and iron from the north could supply factories in the south. Farmers in rural areas could access urban markets, selling their goods at higher prices.
The ripple effects were profound. Railroads created an insatiable demand for materials such as steel, iron and timber, driving growth in those industries. Entire supply chains emerged, and with them came new businesses, new jobs and new wealth.
With the railroads, the very fabric of the economy changed. They were a financial powerhouse – and funnelling profits into the hands of those who built, operated or invested in them.
Making fortunes
Astute entrepreneurs and investors who saw the potential of the railroads made fortunes that echoed through history. Men like Cornelius Vanderbilt in the US built empires that spanned industries.
Vanderbilt started in shipping but quickly pivoted to railroads, recognising their transformative power. His foresight earned him a fortune so vast that it redefined what it meant to be wealthy.
Investors, too, reaped extraordinary rewards. Early backers of railroad companies saw their stakes multiply many times over as these companies expanded and profits soared. Ordinary people who took a chance on this revolutionary technology found themselves part of a new economic elite.
The railroads were generating wealth on a scale that was unprecedented.
Connecting the world
The railroads also reshaped societies, making the world smaller.
People could travel farther and faster than ever before, expanding their horizons and opportunities. Towns that were once isolated became connected to national and even international markets. New industries, like tourism, sprang into existence as people began exploring beyond their local communities.
But it wasn’t just about travel and trade. The railroads helped spread ideas and cultures. Newspapers could circulate farther and faster, spreading knowledge and fostering a sense of shared identity.
The railroads became the veins through which the lifeblood of a modern society flowed.
A modern revolution is unfolding
Now, let’s pause for a moment and imagine: what if something as transformative as the railroads was happening again today? What if a new revolution, one with the power to reshape economies, create jobs and generate wealth, was unfolding right here in Britain?
Here’s the exciting part: it is happening.
A modern revolution is taking place – one that echoes the history of the railroads but brings with it the promise of even greater transformation.
It’s rooted in the same principles of connection, innovation and opportunity that defined the 19th century, but it’s designed for the challenges and possibilities of the 21st.
This week, you’ll start to hear more about this incredible opportunity.
While the full details will be revealed on Wednesday, let this serve as your reminder to pay close attention.
History has a way of repeating itself, and just like those who seized the moment in the age of railroads, those who act now could find themselves at the forefront of a new era.
Stay tuned – what’s coming could change everything.
Until next time,
James Allen
Contributing Editor, Fortune & Freedom
The Ford Factor
Bill Bonner, writing from Baltimore, Maryland
We’ve left a few important dots, like mixed cement waiting in wheelbarrows… we need to connect them before they harden up.
How come we say that stocks do not go up over the long run, when they are up 366 times since 1925?
Why is the price of a Ford pickup truck is still a good way to measure real value?
And is this a good time to buy gold, even at record high prices?
Let’s clear up the F-150 Deflator issue today… we’ll move on to the others later. But first, the dots keep coming…
Last week, while we were still incarcerated by the snow, we watched the most remarkable White House press conference we have ever seen. Trump, Musk and little four-year-old X in the Oval Office. And Musk did the talking!
As usual, the mainstream press went wild. They had worked months to tag ‘The Donald’ with fomenting an insurrection in Jan, 2021… and now… another coup d’etat!
- Newsweek: Top Historian Warms Elon Musk is Performing a Coup
- The Nation: Who Will Stop Elon Musk’s Coup
- The Atlantic: Elon Musk’s Bureaucratic Coup
But there’s no more of a ‘coup’ today than there was four years ago. A coup is a violent takeover, like the dozens that have been organized by the CIA since WWII. One group seizes power from another group – by force. That is not what is going on today in the US. Elon may be buying influence. Trump may be selling it… or perhaps just renting it out for a while… but it’s not a coup.
The question for us is: What is the meaning of it? Is Musk really reducing the deficit? Is he really changing the course of history? We’ll see…
In the meantime, the snow has melted away. Day to day, the weather changes. One warm day. One cold day. And yet, there’s a deeper pattern at work, a Primary Trend. Spring is coming. It is the ‘eternal return.’
The earth spins… and circles the sun. Everything begins… and ends where it started off, from dust to dust. Net zero. The only thing that is linear, with neither beginning nor end, is time. In the end, time is all we have. And most people earn their way in life by selling it, hour by hour, week by week.
The average wage was about $5,400 in 1925. Today, it’s $60,000 according to the Labor department. That puts the gain at eleven times. But the cost of a new Ford truck (basic, working man’s model) has gone up from $500 to $42,000 – 83 times.
In 1925, it took a wage earner only a bit more than a single year’s work to buy an average house. Now, it takes more than eight years. But for an investor, it took only the equivalent of 50 Dows to buy a house a hundred years ago. Now, it takes only twelve.
It’s all a bit puzzling and confusing. But we’ll figure it out.
When we were in college, we worked in the summers as a roofer. It meant carrying heavy packs of shingles on our shoulders up a steep ladder. Today, nobody does that; all the materials are unloaded from a truck by a forklift and telescoped onto the roof.
Carpenters today rarely fashion windows or doors on the job site. Nor do they cut wood with a handsaw. Instead, the parts are pre-fabbed in factories and assembled on site with nail guns, laser levels, and lifts.
But every time we mention houses or autos as a way of keeping track of real wealth, we get a note from George Gilder or another of the ‘Time Prices’ crowd telling us that our method is invalid. “Of course they are more expensive,” they say, “they’re better.”
But first, how come technology only improves the product… and not the production? Of course, it works on both ends of the assembly-line and everywhere in-between. Improvements on the production side – robotics, better materials, new techniques – should make it less expensive to turn out good products. It takes less human labor to build a Ford pickup than it did a century ago; it should also take less labor to buy it.
Also, if technology delivers a better car, and you have to pay more for it, the tech gain is a fraud. If you have to pay more – in time – for the better product, you’ve gained nothing. Because your time is limited and has to be taken away from the other things you wanted. Real net gain = zero.
Finally, the whole idea that modern things are ‘better’ is unproven. Is a cherry pie better today than the ones we ate as children? Are our blue jeans stronger, more durable? And our houses? Is Monticello inferior to a modern McMansion?
We don’t think so.
More to come…
Regards,
Bill Bonner
Contributing Editor, Fortune & Freedom
For more from Bill Bonner, visit www.bonnerprivateresearch.com
