I'm afraid he's not (that was pretty much Milton Friedman's position as well as all of his UChicago fellow, which is the reason why we're back to the gilded age with robber barons all around)

I actually read the book "The Robber Barons". The author's conclusions do not match the facts he presents.

Not familiar with any particular book called that way.

The “Robber barons” is a phrase that have been used since the late 19th century, and the fact that the American economy had become toxically concentrated in the hands of a few back then really isn't something contentious.

> Nobody’s that jejune.

Edit out swipes like this from comments on HN please, no matter what you're referring to.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I don't think there's a way for me to edit old posts, but I swear and/or affirm I will not feed the trolls moving forward.

I think this is also a swipe isn't it?

I'm not sure I'm seeing what you see (but then, you stare into the mod abyss)

It seems to characterize WalterBright as a troll.

Recent comment history supports this characterization (44849578 44849563 44849504 44847469)

Those comments seem to me to be a combination of Dad jokes and “home truths” from someone who has lived long enough, witnessed enough, and whose career achievements are objectively impressive enough, that their perspective should be at least a little food for thought.

Of the “home truths”, of course people can disagree and debate them, but we should ask ourselves what we know that they don't know before dismissing them out of hand.

All that aside, we still don't call people we disagree with trolls on HN; that's a term reserved for consistently-bad actors who should be banned.