Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe

Cornelius Vanderbilt was a steamboat and railroad entrepreneur and among the richest men in the world. He accumulated a vast fortune that he passed primarily to one of his sons. His offspring continued some business ventures, but primarily conspicuous consumption. They were New York socialites. The built huge mansions. With wealth and opulence came public interest and a lack of privacy. The great consumption also lead to a gradual loss of the wealth. Today many of the descendents remain (such as the author of the book.) However, the great "Vanderbilt" wealth is no longer a thing.

The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt

When he died, Cornelius Vanderbilt net worth was more than 10% of the total money in circulation in the United States. He made the money himself through a serious of business ventures primarily in transportation. He lived relatively modestly, despite his significant wealth. (His descendants would use their inheritance to build great mansions.) He did not set out to build great monuments to himself. He did provide money to endow the university that now bears his name. However, he never set foot there, and didn't even ask for his name. (He thought the northern wealth should help support the south after the civil war.)
The book paints a very laudatory picture of his business dealings. He carries out his activities out of principle. He is constantly doing the moral thing and helping to increase the value of companies rather than simply extract money. The book seems to portray him in almost too positive of a light. He is seen as the humble businessman who only monopolized industries to help people out (or to exact revenge on bad actors.) There may be some truth to it, but it does feel like too much of a deification. Perhaps his moral compass is what enabled him to succeed where others failed. He wasn't after the graft. He wanted a big successful company. He started working on steamships. He was able to move boats around and make money where it was needed. He was involved in the pre-Panama-Canal route through Nicaragua. It was faster, but ended up dying due to politics, including "filibusters" who try to claim foreign land for America. He gradually ended up more involved with railroads, taking over the poor performing Harlem line and helping it to succeed, before taking over other New York Lines.
It is interesting to think that when he was alive and building his fortunes, places like Seattle barely even existed. The times also saw a conversion from individualists to large corporation. Boats could be bought and run by an individual. Only through government interference and "gentleman's agreements" were monopolies created. It was very easy for one boat to move to a new location. Horses and carriages were also individualistic. They could go just about anywhere, though not super fast. A good road would help (and thus some toll roads were created). However, these tended to be shorter distance turnpikes. Railroads started in this framework before changing everything. First they were similar to the toll roads. They were small rail lines serving local traffic. They were also quite dangerous. Then the railroads grew larger and larger. They needed to maintain the tracks, the cars and the engines. The expenses necessitated much more capital and large corporations. Long distance traffic involved traveling over a large number of different lines. There were often switches involved. This was costly and time consuming. Consolidation helped freight and passengers move faster. However, there were still plenty of opportunities for graft in the structure. After the experience with railroads, America turned to a more socialist transportation structure. Highways were built on the public dime, and open to everyone with an automobile. Airports were similarly often built with public funds and open to private airplanes. This seemed to appeal the individuality of users. (Anybody could be an operator on the transportation system with a minimum of capital), in spite of the large expense needed for infrastructure and maintenance. Even the railroads have become partially under the pervue of the government.
Vanderbilt would not recognize what has become of his "empire" today. However, he would likely appreciate the significant changes that have occurred in society.

Nerd Bowl

Maybe it is time to add a standardized test to the bowl festivities. Most major sports conferences have a smallish, private school that boosts the average SAT score, but usually serves as nothing more than a free "win" on the football schedule.

Apparently, these academic "doormats" didn't get the message.

Stanford has always been one of the most academic prestigious schools in the nation. A half-dozen years ago, the football program was a mere afterthought, with some pundits even calling on them to disband it as a worthless cause. Now, however, they have gone to through BCS bowl games in a row. If not for a few missed kicks last season, they would have been 3-0 in these bowls. The victory this year in the Rose Bowl was the first Stanford Rose Bowl victory since Nixon was president. Stanford has a young hot-shot coach who also happens to be an alum, and doesn't plan on going anywhere.

Northwestern is the private oddity among the big public schools in the Big-10. This season they won the Big-10s lone New Years Day game. This also happened to be Northwestern's first bowl victory since someone named Truman was president. If not for a few blown forth quarter leads, Northwestern could have been undefeated. (With just a couple small breaks for the Cardinal and Wildcats, we could have seen a truly "nerdy" national championship game.) Like Stanford, Northwestern is led by a young alum for a coach.

The SEC's nerd school also got in the action. Vanderbilt won its bowl game to rack up 9 wins, a number that has not been seen since World War I. While the coach doesn't have ties to the school, he did bolt from a "coach in waiting" position at Maryland to go to Vandy. He will be a much more likely "flight" risk than the other two.

In Texas, Rice also had a bowl win. The only "nerd" school that didn't win its bowl game was the ACC's Duke. It was, however, Duke's first bowl appearance in 17 years, so you need to start somewhere. Notre Dame is joining in the ACC (playing 5 ACC football games, and fully joining in all other sports.) They are a top 20 private school. This year they just happen to be playing for the national championship.

In this years US News rankings, Stanford is #6, Duke #8, Northwestern #12, and Rice, Vanderbilt and Notre Dame are tied for #17. They make up all the schools in the US News top 20 that play top division college football.

It almost seems that the "scholar" is coming back to "scholar-athlete", with top-flight football universities actually fielding top-tier football teams. The schools have now got a new pitch for recruits: You can go get a top notch degree with endless possibilities - and if that doesn't work out, there is always the NFL.