The Business Plots, Then and Now

In 1933, a group of American businessman planned a coup to take down the new President, Franklin Roosevelt. In this scheme, General Smedley Butler would be tasked with orchestrating the overthrow. This attempted coup was called the Business Plot.  

College students today may ask, so what's so important about this moment in history?  The point is that we have entered an era again where big business has a dominating influence over American politics. In the case of the 1933 moment, the coup was reactive. American business had failed, a Great Depression was in progress, and businessmen were fighting to maintain control, a control that they were used to having under Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover. The man tasked to lead the plot, General Butler, squashed it before it happened. And the story largely faded away. 

Eight years later, in 1941, the US would be fighting a world war against global fascism and imperialism.  In the aftermath of the war, a stronger nation would arise. Today, we are also a nation facing intense competition and conflict, this time against China, Russia, India and other nations, with global climate change being a factor that wasn't apparent back then. 

In 2024, US business people, some of the richest people in the world, did something similar, but more proactive and less controversial. Today, folks, in general are OK with American businessmen pulling the strings. The most wealthy man have succeeded where big banks and big business failed before. And they have elected a friend. Today, cryptocurrency is booming. The stock market is booming for now. Unemployment is at record lows--for now. Big business has managed to gain greater control of the US government with little or no uproar. 

 

The Roaring 2020s and America's Move to the Right

In December 2024, the Roaring 2020s are already here. The stock market is near an all-time high and Bitcoin has gained enormous value, waiting for Donald J. Trump to become President again, to make America Great Again. 

In 2025 US citizens should expect markets to continue growing, and the costly war in the Ukraine to be settled. Deregulation, interest rate cuts, and tax cuts, which provide economic stimulus, will be at the heart of the new Trump Administration, good enough to pump up the economy for years. Threats to raise tariffs on China and other nations (which are costly to consumers) may only be threats.  

Mr. Trump promises a new Golden Age. And many of those who are clever enough and ambitious enough should expect to get rich. But those who do not agree with President Trump may face increased scrutiny, harkening back to a century ago.  

Let's see how long this new era lasts, how it is remembered by different people, and how it is retold in history books. 

The Roaring 2020's: For-Profit Education and Incarceration Profit from Trump Win

American investors are betting heavily on for-profit online education and mass incarceration. Shares of LRN (Stride), a company that operates cyber charter schools, have increased in value by about 60 percent over the last 30 days, reaching an all-time high today.  Stride has a number of institutional investors, including state employee and teacher retirement funds.  

Shares of GEO Group (GEO), an owner and operator of private prisons, have increased more than 90 percent over the last month. It also has a large number of big investors, including BlackRock, Vanguard, and Goldman Sachs.