On April 14 at 11:40 PM the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank two and a half hours later in the early morning of April 15, 1912.
1,514 passengers drowned to death that night. One hundred years later and not much has changed.
The biggest ship liner of its era, the Titanic was conceived and built for the maritime company International Mercantile Marine Co. The owner of that company was John Pierpont Morgan, the founder of JPMorgan & Co. The House of Morgan on 23 Wall Street was for decades the most important address in American finance. The JP Morgan brand name through many corporate transformations is still the major U.S banking entity – JP Morgan Chase.
So, today’s brand-name owner of the sunken Titanic is still in business.
John Pierpont Morgan aimed to dominate the transatlantic shipping. He was fortunate enough to avoid the maiden voyage of his ship the Titanic. Richard Armour wrote about JP Morgan that he “made his money in money…”
Today nothing has changed. Wall Street bankers still make money out of thin air – it is called creative financial synthetic derivatives… No value added in Wall Street business.
The Titanic lacked sufficient lifeboats. The number of available lifeboats on board could serve only half of the passengers on board of the Titanic. The corporate owner of the Titanic cut expenses then, as corporate Wall Street does it now. Why carry a full load of lifeboats. Lives of the third class passengers were cheaper than the first class.
Today not much has changed. The top 1% take care of their own. The 99% are left behind to sink.
© 2012 Mandy Lender MD
Mandy Lender 