John D. Rockefeller Is a Cautionary Tale for Today’s Business Titans

Foreign Policy columnist Julian Zelizer argues that today's business figures, including Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg, are following a path once walked by John D. Rockefeller, celebrated as an innovator before public opinion turned against him. He cites an August CNBC and Generation Lab poll finding more young Americans distrust AI leaders than trust them.

Zelizer traces Rockefeller's rise from a Cleveland bookkeeping job through Standard Works, the Cleveland refinery he built with his brother starting in 1867, en route to becoming a symbol of concentrated economic power. The piece draws a parallel to today's tech leaders, whose alliance with the Trump administration, Zelizer notes, resembles a business-government closeness many Americans have criticized when seen elsewhere.

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