[throwawaygh]

Andrew Carnegie definitely had "more money than governments". Same with other titans of that time.

He was a really shit person when in came to labor -- hiring literal private armies to straight up lay siege to his workers -- but he did basically create the "rich guy gives away his money as a social obligation" model of... maintaining... democratic... government? Or, to be less coy, model of staving off communist/socialist/fascist revolution. I truly and sincerely hope today's ultra billionaires are as smart and realistic as Carnegie in this respect.

Carnegie emphasized education in his giving. Limited success. His library movement was largely successful, but his trade school turned into yet another hyper expensive prestinge-driven private university. Although I guess it was the brith-place of a lot of the computer technologies that made the current crop of ultra billionaires rich.

I think we're over-due for someone to emphasize healthcare in their giving. (Gates did this, but not in the USA.) We're also over due for a labor backlash against this sort of obscene wealth concentration (and not even as a value-laden statement... just as a "lessons from history" thing, the pendulum will probably swing).

[michaelangerman]

That trade school which is now CMU did not start out being a hyper expensive prestige driven university. For years prior to the computer era it was a humble university in Pittsburgh.

"In 1900, he donated $1 million for the creation of a technical institute for the city of Pittsburgh, envisioning a school where working-class men and women of Pittsburgh could learn practical skills, trades and crafts that would enhance their careers, lives and communities."

It was not until the dawn of the computer era that things started to change.

https://www.cmu.edu/about/history.html

See this link for more details.

[throwawaygh]

Yeah, it served its intended purpose for a long time. It's extremely difficult for a wildly successful university from humble roots to stay true to its roots. Even public institutions mostly fail to stay accessible after becoming successful.

CMU has damn close to zero "working class men and women from Pittsburgh" in its student body these days, unless by "working class" you mean "parents were doctors, lawyers, and software engineers from shadyside/squill/fox chapel/etc." :(. On the other hand, it is one of the two big reasons Pittsburgh experienced a renaissance in the early 21st century (which continues to this day), and in that sense did achieve the goal of helping the Pittsburgh community thrive. Just not by elevating working class folk.

[basementcat]

There was also a modest contribution toward basic scientific research.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Institution_for_Scien...

Some astronomical observatories built atop certain mountains were built with his funding.

[xyzzyz]

He was a really shit person when in came to labor -- hiring literal private armies to straight up lay siege to his workers

That’s interesting. Why would he “lay siege” to workers? Were they hiding somewhere behind fortifications, and he was trying to force them to work, or what? It’s hard for me to imagine circumstances where capitalists would even find it useful to “lay siege” to workers.

[throwaway2048]

if only historical accounts existed of this mythical time.

[xyzzyz]

Well, maybe instead of sarcastic remarks you will be the one to point me to some historical accounts?

[throwawaygh]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_strike

[xyzzyz]

Ah, now it makes more sense: he wasn’t laying siege to workers, but rather to his own factory the workers were illegally occupying, and refusing to let in him or other workers, and after they kicked out the Sheriff, who was initially called to lawfully remove them. Finally, the occupation was dispersed by state militia. Yeah, now it all falls into place, except it’s still unclear to me which part exactly makes Carnegie a “shit person” here.

[throwawaygh]

Oof. I don't think anyone in the world is interested in re-litigating 100 year old labor politics with you.