In Texas, the world’s richest man is bringing back to life one of the worst ideas of the Gilded Age, local Robber Baron-owned dictatorships called company towns. Elon Musk has already established two in Texas and other high-tech oligarchs like Peter Theil hope to create more. In this episode, journalist Steven Monacelli and historian Dr. Michael Phillips explore the history of company towns in the United States and their disturbing rebirth. 

Sources:

Margaret Crawford, Building the Workingman's Paradise: The Design of American Company Towns

Alan Dawley, Struggles for Justice: Social Responsibility and the Liberal State

Hardy Green, The Company Town: The Industrial Edens and Satanic Mills That Shaped the American Economy

Chad Pearson, Capitalism’s Terrorists: Klansmen, Lawmen, and Employers in the Long Nineteenth Century

In Texas, the world&rsquo;s richest man is bringing back to life one of the worst ideas of the Gilded Age, local Robber Baron-owned dictatorships called company towns. Elon Musk has already established two in Texas and other high-tech oligarchs like Peter Theil hope to create more. In this episode, journalist Steven Monacelli and historian Dr. Michael Phillips explore the history of company towns in the United States and their disturbing rebirth.&nbsp;
Sources:
Margaret Crawford,&nbsp;Building the Workingman's Paradise: The Design of American Company Towns
Alan Dawley,&nbsp;Struggles for Justice: Social Responsibility and the Liberal State
Hardy Green,&nbsp;The Company Town: The Industrial Edens and Satanic Mills That Shaped the American Economy
Chad Pearson,&nbsp;Capitalism&rsquo;s Terrorists: Klansmen, Lawmen, and Employers in the Long Nineteenth Century

It Could Happen Here started as an exploration of the possibility of a new civil war. Now a daily show, it's evolved into a chronicle of collapse as it happens, and an exploration of how we might build a better future. Every day Robert Evans, Garrison Davis, Mia Wong, and James Stout take you on a jaunty walk through the burning ruins of the old world and towards a better one that lays just on the horizon.

It Could Happen Here started as an exploration of the possibility of a new civil war. Now a daily show, it's evolved into a chronicle of collapse as it happens, and an exploration of how we might build a better future. Every day Robert Evans, Garrison Davis, Mia Wong, and James Stout take you on a jaunty walk through the burning ruins of the old world and towards a better one that lays just on the horizon.

It Could Happen Here

Elon Musk and the Rebirth of Company Towns feat. Steven Monacelli & Dr. Michael Phillips

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/282300e9-de61-4a8f-90ff-b33d0159b6bd/transcript