The 2020s are the 1890s

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And as promised, here is the script from my video:
​
There’s a rumor going around that I am Mr. Beat.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the Roman Empire. I mean….the 1890s

You see, it often feels like I’m not living in the 2020s. It feels like I’m watching the 2020s from the 1890s.

Some argue that the 2020s feel like the 1960s, a decade of protests, political violence, dramatic cultural change, and generational conflict. Others argue that the 2020s feel like the 1850s, another time of polarization that saw political violence, the collapse of institutions, and two sides that absolutely refused to compromise and even viewed the other side as existential threats.

In this video, I’m going to argue that the 2020s are actually-
Philip (interrupting): Ya know, history doesn’t repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme. 
Mr. Beat: I know that Philip.
Philip: (continuing): Take the 1890s, for example. A time of extreme economic inequality. 
Mr. Beat: Well…I was gonna say that…
Philip: It was a time in which industrialists amassed vast fortunes, yet workers struggled with low wages and instability.
Mr. Beat: Well this is a Mr. Beat video, ok? 
Philip: Wealth concentration reached historic heights.
Mr. Beat: Oh no! My legs are cut off!
Philip: (finally looking over, concerned) Oh my gosh, are you ok?
Mr. Beat: Yeah. It’s just a green screen effect, but I had to get your attention somehow. You were really in the zone.
Philip: I’m sorry about that. (looking around) Wait, how did I get in a Mr. Beat video?
Mr. Beat: Well, regardless of how you got here, how about you stick around and jump in when I need you?
Philip: Right. (turning to camera) Industrial titans like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie-
Mr. Beat: Philip, I’ll let you know when to jump in
Philip: Oh sorry.
Mr. Beat: And then maybe later I can jump in a Spectacles video?
Philip: (coldly) I’ll think about it.

Mr. Beat: Dang bro. (turning) Well, in THIS video, I’m going to argue that the 2020s are MOST like the 1890s…at least here in the United States. And here are 12 reasons why. 

1. Reactionary Politics to Changing Demographics
In the early 1890s, Americans were going through its worst economic crisis yet- The Great Depression. No, not THAT Great Depression, the OG Great Depression, which we had to change the name of for history textbooks, so it’s now called The Long Depression since it was the longest depression in American history. Again, economists are not that creative when naming recessions and depressions. Anyway, Americans, as humans tend to do, looked for scapegoats…people to BLAME for their misery. And the low-hanging fruit, sadly, was already marginalized communities. The usual suspects, immigrants, African Americans, Native Americans. For the first time, the federal government passed laws restricting immigration. Racist laws like the Chinese Exclusion Act. Jim Crow laws, or state and local laws that enforced racial segregation mostly in Southern states, were very common by the 1890s. In 1896, the Supreme Court even upheld this racial segregation. By the 1890s, Americans had stolen nearly all Native American land. But they didn’t stop there. On December 29, 1890, in what became known as the Wounded Knee Massacre, U.S. Army troops murdered hundreds of Lakota civilians at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota. The federal government even had the audacity to award some of those soldiers who murdered civilians Medals of Honor.

Well here in the 2020s, and after decades of people trying to get those Medals of Honor revoked, now we have the literal Secretary of Defense saying… 
This is a reflection of a much bigger reactionary trend currently happening not just in the United States, but around the entire world. As the economy has gotten worse in the 2020s, people have looked for scapegoats. Recent demographic shifts and social liberalism, combined with media hysteria, has made it easier to find such scapegoats. Immigrants, of course, are still the main scapegoat. There have been brutal immigrant takedowns, sometimes even of LEGAL citizens. We’ve seen a backlash against the LGBT+ community…particularly the transgender community. We’ve seen a backlash against voting access expansion. Overall though, people are increasingly rebelling against “the establishment,” or those who they view as the elites in power.

2. Technology Anxiety
The 1890s were peak Second Industrial Revolution time, baby. Unlike the First Industrial Revolution of around 100 years prior, which revolved around a lot on textile manufacturing and steam power, the SECOND Industrial Revolution revolved around electricity, steel production, and big time advancements in communication technologies. All of a sudden, EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY in the world were connected, and this dramatic technological change had a big impact on people psychologically, morally, and obviously economically. I mean, for the first time, you had telegraphs, telephones, lightbulbs, motion pictures, mass-circulation newspapers. People freaked out about this stuff when it first came out. Want an example of this? In 1891, after electricity was first installed in the White House, President Benjamin Harrison famously was terrified to touch light switches because he thought he’d get electrocuted. But overall, folks worried that all this new technology was corrupting the kids, destroying jobs, and they even were afraid it was overstimulating the public.
Sound familiar?
In the 2020s, similar concerns surround artificial intelligence, or AI, social media, and automation, all part of what some folks call the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The Third Industrial Revolution revolved around the shift from mechanical and analog to digital and micro, by the way.
Anyway, in the 2020s many people are freaking out that this new Fourth Industrial Revolution is hurting kids' ability to socialize and be happy, shortening our attention spans, killing jobs, and leading to too much misinformation.
Hey speaking of which…

3. Rampant Misinformation
DUE to all this new communication technology, the 1890s saw the first time misinformation quickly spread around the world. Thanks to the influence of dudes like William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, “yellow journalism,” or journalism that sensationalizes the truth to get the reader's attention, became huge. These newspapers fueled moral panics, exaggerated stories, and straight up just made stuff up. Most famously? They almost single-handedly created public support for the Spanish-American War. Oh yeah, imperialism is coming up later on in this video.
In the 2020s, social media and algorithm-driven platforms play a comparable role, quickly amplifying misleading or false claims because they generate clicks, shares, and engagement. 
In both the 1890s and 2020s, a new, fast-spreading form of media that rewarded speed of delivery and outrage over accuracy put people in two completely different realities.

Hey, you wanna know one way to fight back against misinformation? By critical thinking. And I’ve got a book that inspires us to do just that. THE BOOK, man. Quite literally. “The Book.” The Ultimate Guide to Rebuilding Civilization. Let’s check it out.

(footage of Mr. Beat reacting to the book as he turns through the pages.

So, as you can see, it’s visually stunning. High paper quality and binding, meant to last a millenia, not a decade. Each book contains a secret puzzle for readers to discover, adding an extra layer of intrigue and interactivity. It’s captivating for both your technical and humanities-minded friends. Friends? Yeah friends. This would make the perfect gift for your smart friend…or yourself…since…ya know…you’re pretty smart, too. 

Seriously, one of the coolest books I’ve ever seen. Check the link in the description to buy a copy, and use code MRBEAT10 to get 10% off your order. Thanks to Hungry Minds, the creative team of artists, scientists, architects, designers, and entrepreneurs behind this book, for sponsoring this video. 

4. Corporate Consolidation
First of all, when I say “corporate consolidation,” I’m talking about huge companies merging to form even bigger huge companies, to a point where, no matter what industry or market, there’s just a handful of companies competing. And yep, the two most striking examples of corporate consolidation we see in American history happened in the 1890s and…uh…TODAY…in the 2020s.
By the 1890s, the United States had gone through very rapid industrialization. Railroads linked the national economy together, making it so companies were able to make more money BY FAR than ever before. Companies got even bigger when turning to both horizontal and vertical integration in order to DOMINATE markets. By the way, horizontal integration simply just means one company buys up its competition, while vertical integration simply just means one company owns the entire supply chain. This environment led to trusts, or legal arrangements that let multiple companies operate under centralized control. Standard Oil alone controlled nearly 90% of the American oil refining capacity by the early 1890s, for crying out loud. The 1890s saw the peak of monopolies, or when one seller dominates a market, and the main problem with monopolies is that they can take advantage of their power by charging ridiculously high prices. 
Sound familiar? In the 2020s, advances in digital technology, data aggregation, and logistics have made it so that companies are making more money BY FAR than ever before. Network effects, in which platforms become more valuable as more users join, created natural monopolies in parts of the economy like retail or entertainment. Meanwhile, DECADES of deregulation, lackluster antitrust enforcement, globalization, and the growing importance of finance in growing the economy, have encouraged mergers and acquisitions across industries ranging from airlines to telecommunications to healthcare to agriculture. The result has been high concentration in many markets, leading to higher prices and lower quality of all kinds of goods and services. For example, some research has suggested that hospital mergers have caused price increases as high as 65% in recent years DESPITE a decline in quality of service.^12
Philip: But Mr. Beat, there’s more!
Mr. Beat: Ok, now you can talk!
Philip: These big companies didn’t just exercise outsized sway over prices and consumer choice, they also paid almost no taxes and had free rein in their industrial practices (which destroyed the environment) and in their labor practices (which abused workers with insecure short-term gigs in dangerous factories).
Mr. Beat: Well that sounds familiar too!
Philip: And they were able to do all this because these companies were bigger than the government!
Mr. Beat: No way.
Philip: Yes way! Up to this point in American history, it was the states who were responsible for regulating business, and these new national companies were almost impossible to regulate…until politics went national with Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt. And in 2020 we’ve got a similar problem. Corporations are now multinational, and they’re just as hard to regulate as national corporations were in the 1890s.
Mr. Beat: That sounds like a real tricky situation.
Philip: It is! And we’ve got a whole video on it, which you should go watch, but only after you finish this one.
Mr. Beat: Saved yourself there. That’s good.


5. Extreme Wealth Inequality
And DUE to this corporate consolidation, a FEW folks have become filthy. Filthy rich, I mean.

In the 1890s, wealth inequality was out of control. The richest 1% of Americans controlled as much as 51% of the wealth.^3 The poorest 50% of Americans probably controlled less than 1% of the wealth.

Sound familiar? In the 2020s, wealth inequality is once again near historic highs. Today, the richest 1% of Americans control at least 31% of the wealth.^4 The poorest 50% of Americans control less than 3% of the wealth. Sure, that’s not as bad as the 1890s, but at no other time in American history has wealth inequality been as bad as it is right now OTHER than the 1890s, and that’s pretty wild.

Philip: It is. And we talk all about that, too, in our video.

Mr. Beat: I almost forgot you were standing there. (nervous laugh)

Philip: I’m watching

6. Extreme Corruption in Government
And a big reason why this corporate concentration and extreme wealth inequality have both happened is because a corrupt government has ALLOWED it to happen. Heck, in some instances, politicians have BENEFITED from it happening.

In the 1890s, political machines, or highly organized political organizations that often controlled cities or even entire regions, controlled votes and held onto power through a combination of loyalty and favors. You vote this way, you get money. But if you vote THIS way, you LOSE money. You vote THIS way, you gain a bunch of new friends. But if you vote THIS way, you gain a bunch of new enemies. In the 1890s, the spoils system, aka patronage, which basically said you should reward the people who got you elected, was still around, although on the decline. Overall, though, in the 1890s it was still incredibly easy to bribe politicians. If a corporation wanted to get a law passed…or perhaps more importantly…if they wanted to PREVENT a law from getting passed, they could just buy a politician by funding their campaign and then threatening to take away campaign funding if that politician didn’t fall in line.

(sigh) Sound familiar? In the 2020s, corruption is back to 1890s levels, baby. Sure bribery has always been a problem in Washington, D.C., but now it seems to be worse for various reasons. In the landmark case Citizens United v. FEC, the Supreme Court ruled that laws restricting political spending by corporations and political organizations went against the First Amendment. Well, this decision has made it easier for corporations, super PACs, and just overall rich folks to spend lots of money to influence politicians, and due to this, they now have a huge influence over policy. Not only that, today we have the rampant practice of lobbyists and special interest employers hiring former politicians and government officials, thus causing politicians and government officials to be too nice to industries they hope to work for in the future. There’s regulatory capture, in which regulatory agencies serve the interests of the industries they are supposed to regulate instead of…ya know…US. And thanks to President Donald Trump, the spoils system is back with a bang. He has clearly favored loyalists in his administration over actual experts, especially in his second term so far. There’s also a lot of evidence that President Trump is making a lot of money off his presidency.^5 This ain’t no secret. It’s all out in the open, as symbolized by the oligarchs proudly sitting behind Trump at his second inauguration.

And of course there’s gonna be a backlash to all this. 

7. Rising Populism
First of all, many talk about populism these days but few actually define it. So let’s define it. Populism is a movement seeking to represent the interests of ordinary people and against the interests of the privileged elites. 
In the 1890s, populism skyrocketed into the mainstream, with farmers frustrated with railroad and bank monopolies uniting with city workers frustrated with industrial monopolies. They even formed the Populist Party, one of the most successful third parties in American political history, which had goals like government control over certain industries, getting rid of the gold standard, the expansion of democracy, and making the wealthy pay more in taxes. The Populists of the 1890s called for social reforms and the end of political corruption. “The man who is employed for wages is as much a business man as his employer,” said the most famous Populist of this time, William Jennings Bryan^6. Across the country, ordinary people rose up to fight back against the elites.

Is that at least STARTING to sound familiar? In the 2020s, we have a new coalition of Americans completely fed up with concentrated power. They want more taxes on the wealthy, they are fed up with corporate welfare, or financial aid provided by a government to corporations. The aforementioned President Donald Trump came to power through populist rhetoric, using phrases like “Drain the Swamp.” On the other end of the political spectrum, Bernie Sanders has sounded a lot like William Jennings Bryan, criticizing corporate influence over politics and the concentration of power among the top 1% while advocating for policies like wealth taxes on billionaires and Medicare for All. People who lean both to the left and right politically…this really does transcend political parties…. have railed against the elites.

8. Labor Unrest
In the 1890s, factory workers faced long hours, low wages, and freaking dangerous conditions, leading to massive strikes like the Homestead Strike of 1892, which saw violent conflict between workers and private security forces the Carnegie Steel Company hired….or the Pullman Strike of 1894, a labor conflict so big that it led to a nationwide boycott of Pullman Company trains. Union membership surged and organizations like the American Federation of Labor became incredibly influential. After this rise of unions, and this really started to take off in the 1890s, citizens voted in politicians to fight back against these corporations exploiting American workers. For the first time ever, governments began to pass laws to demand more fair wages, limit how many hours you had to work, and overall make the workplace a place you were less likely to die in.

In the 2020s, we still have a lot of those laws in place fortunately, but UNFORTUNATELY, a lot of OTHER stuff has still led to worker conditions getting worse.

Workers today face increasing job insecurity due to stuff I mentioned earlier like automation, artificial intelligence, and corporate consolidation…but also stuff like the rise of gig work and stagnant wages relative to productivity. The 2020s has seen a dramatic rise in union membership after decades of decline. More importantly, there’s been a dramatic rise of public approval of unions.

9. A Distrust in Institutions
Due to the aforementioned economic suffering of the time, people not only blamed immigrants, but they blamed OWNERS. Owners of factories, owners of real estate, owners of any asset, really. Populists argued that democratic institutions and the media had been hollowed out by money and insider influence. Due to this, fewer people began to trust ANY institution. There was even a rising movement against vaccines.

Sound familiar? In the 2020s, distrust targets many of the same kinds of institutions- corporations, the media, universities, public health agencies, Congress, and even elections. And yep, there’s a rising anti-vaccine movement today as well, with some vaccine skeptical folks even in power now. 

10. Rising Political Violence
I mentioned the violence of the Homestead Strike and Pullman Strike earlier, but the 1890s also saw the Cripple Creek Strike, an armed conflict between miners, private security, and state militia in Colorado. Lynchings peaked in the 1890s, with hundreds of African Americans straight up murdered outside of the law each year. In what became known as the Wilmington massacre of 1898, a white supremacist mob overthrew a legally elected, multiracial government in Wilmington, North Carolina, killing dozens and permanently ending African American political power in the city. The 1890s saw the increase of political assassinations. Probably the most notable was the assassination of Carter Harrison, the popular mayor of Chicago.
In the 2020s, we are once again seeing a rise of political violence. For the first time in decades, politicians are getting straight up assassinated (Minnesota). A popular YouTuber/podcaster got executed right in front of everyone. Even the current president almost got killed right in front of everyone as he ran for re-election. There was the assassination of the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. 

11. New Tensions Around the World
In the 1890s, the world was generally going through the late stages of high imperialism. European powers aggressively competed for colonies in Africa and Asia and empires expanded into weaker regions. The British Empire became the biggest empire the world had ever seen. There was also the decline of older empires mixed with new rising powers creating new military buildup and new conflicts overseas.
American imperialism especially be on the rise during this time, for real for real.
During the 1890s, the United States took over Hawaii by force. After easily winning the Spanish-American War, the United States gained the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico, then got itself into a prolonged war in the Philippines.
In the 2020s, we’ve seen Russia invade Ukraine, Israel invade Gaza, and the United States invade Venezuela and overthrow its government. And now, the Trump administration is talking about invading Greenland? For some reason? While China seems poised to invade Taiwan. 

Hey speaking of China, this decade may even be a turning point for its status as the world’s biggest superpower. Just as historians discovered the 1890s was when the United States began to overtake the United Kingdom to become the world’s top superpower, the 2020s very well may be the decade future historians say is when China began to overtake the United States to become the world’s top superpower.

12. Rising Protectionism
FREAKING TARIFFS
The 1890s saw peak American protectionism, or the restriction of trade to PROTECT domestic industries from foreign competition. During that decade, high tariffs tried to protect American manufacturers from European imports. Farmers, however, often were against these tariffs as they raised the cost of essential goods while limiting their access to export markets.
I know I’ve said this a few times throughout this video, but…SOUND FAMILIAR?
Here in the 2020s, similar protectionist impulses have come roaring right back. The United States currently has its highest effective tariff rates in nearly 100 years, aimed at China and other global competitors and causing a worldwide trade war. 

-Let’s learn the lessons of the 1890s, maybe?-
So far, the 2020s have shown to be a turbulent decade due to a global pandemic, rising political tensions, and the rise of populism and reactionary politics. We learn history to learn about the lessons of the past so that our species can survive in the future. For the many Americans who are currently terrified about the future and who have absolutely NOT liked how the 2020s have gone here in the United States so far, I’m telling you…we already have a guide for a better future when we look at the 1890s. 

You see, the 1890s marked the tailend of what historians now call the Gilded Age, a time marked by dramatic industrialization and economic growth, but also marked by political corruption and extreme wealth inequality. The phrase came from Mark Twain, who said the era was “gilded” because the wealth of the time was only a thin, superficial layer that masked the darker social problems going on underneath the surface. Well guess what. Now many historians are saying we’re currently living in the SECOND Gilded Age. But don’t lose hope, because just like the Gilded Age ended, so too will the Second Gilded Age. The 1890s also actually marked the beginning of the Progressive Era, a period of widespread reform and activism that saw the expansion of democracy, the rise of labor unions and worker rights, the increased regulation of corporations, antitrust laws, and consumer protection laws. The Progressive Era offers MANY lessons that can give us hope about what the NEXT two decades look like. It doesn’t mean ALL Progressive Era reforms were gravy…Ain’t nobody calling for Prohibition 2.0…but other lessons, like how middle class reformers fought back against corruption, materialism, and the concentration of huge amounts of wealth among a small elite are gold, baby. They’re just gold.

How do we get back on a better path here in the 2020s? How do we SURVIVE the 2020s? Well first, by learning as much as we can about the 1890s.


For those of you wanting to learn more about the decade, here’s one book that inspired me to make this video…The Reckless Decade: America in the 1890s by H.W. Brands. It’s a really good book. Really accessible. I found myself shaking my head often while reading it, going “yep, that sounds familiar”...“Yep, THAT sounds familiar.”  

(promote Spectacles)
Thank you for staying curious!
_____________________________________________
^1. https://www.stevenslee.com/health-law-observer-blog/higher-prices-reduced-access-lower-quality-care-hhs-ftc-doj-report-harshly-criticizes-provider-consolidation-and-private-ownership/
^2. https://www.kff.org/health-costs/what-we-know-about-provider-consolidation
^3. Fraser, Steve (2015). The Age of Acquiescence: The Life and Death of American Resistance to Organized Wealth and Power. Little, Brown and Company. p. 66.
^4. https://theworlddata.com/top1-income-in-us
^5. https://archive.is/ns6OT
^6. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/williamjenningsbryan1896dnc.htm
​
Sources/further reading:
The Reckless Decade: America in the 1890s by H.W. Brands
Purchase here: https://amzn.to/49loBbj 
A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America by Michael McGerr
Purchase here: https://amzn.to/4jY01C1 
https://www.cfr.org/article/how-today-1890s 
https://archive.is/vHD6g
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13504630802343432 
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-gilded-age-and-progressive-era/article/abs/bookends-to-a-gentler-capitalism-complicating-the-notion-of-first-and-second-gilded-ages/EAA852693D5A17EC0DAA50D15CC97D43 
https://resobscura.substack.com/p/the-familiar-loneliness-of-the-kinetoscope 
https://www.vox.com/first-person/2019/4/1/18286084/gilded-age-income-inequality-robber-baron 
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-political-corruption-watchdog-fired-b2697111.html 

Creative commons credits:
Daniel Case 
Us As We Are