High Signal Podcasts Evidence ledger
Method
Browse
How the evidence works
← All source episodes

Acquired / episode intelligence

Standard Oil Part II

18 Oct 2021 43 published claims 2 attributable people
Open original episode ↗ Read the evidence

Speakers in the public record

David RosenthalBen Gilbert

Claim mix

belief 19uncertainty 8evaluation 6prediction 4recommendation 3commitment 2observation 1

Evidence policy

Every row below preserves an exact excerpt. Identified speakers are linked; unresolved voices are labeled and excluded from people counts.

Claim ledger

The useful parts, with receipts.

43 published records

03 / belief

We’re going to have so much fun on this episode still to come, but I think if there's one thing to take away from this Part II, it’s Part I was Rockefeller and Standard Oil invented modern business.

“We’re going to have so much fun on this episode still to come, but I think if there's one thing to take away from this Part II, it’s Part I was Rockefeller and Standard Oil invented modern business.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

14 / belief

I think about not all the big tech companies, but again, to pick on Facebook, this really seems (on the outside) to be the case with Facebook right now, the Facebook files, and everything going on with the Wall Street Journal.

“I think about not all the big tech companies, but again, to pick on Facebook, this really seems (on the outside) to be the case with Facebook right now, the Facebook files, and everything going on with the Wall Street Journal.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

19 / belief

I think up to a certain point, as we hopefully laid out in Part I, what they were doing was—I don't want to bring morals into it, but it was a chaotic point in both American history and in the industry.

“I think up to a certain point, as we hopefully laid out in Part I, what they were doing was—I don't want to bring morals into it, but it was a chaotic point in both American history and in the industry.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

24 / uncertainty

Where are those trust shares? I don't know, Mr. Prosecutor. The state doesn't actually win the case, but it's kind of a distraction and starts to move public opinion, which is what really counts, the court of public opinion against Standard Oil.

“Where are those trust shares? I don't know, Mr. Prosecutor. The state doesn't actually win the case, but it's kind of a distraction and starts to move public opinion, which is what really counts, the court of public opinion against Standard Oil.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

26 / commitment

We will also debate the finer points of where Standard Oil crossed the line between using legitimate business practices like operational efficiency and economies of scale into straight-up abuses of power to grow their massive, massive profits.

“We will also debate the finer points of where Standard Oil crossed the line between using legitimate business practices like operational efficiency and economies of scale into straight-up abuses of power to grow their massive, massive profits.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Publisher
Acquired

31 / uncertainty

The Supreme Court upholds the decision of finding against Standard Oil. They are indeed, in restraint of trade, and orders them—I don't know if it was the Supreme Court that ordered this remedy or if this was what had been ordered at the lower courts and they upheld it—to be irrevocably, cannot undo this, broken up into 34 separate companies, and it has to happen within the next six months.

“The Supreme Court upholds the decision of finding against Standard Oil. They are indeed, in restraint of trade, and orders them—I don't know if it was the Supreme Court that ordered this remedy or if this was what had been ordered at the lower courts and they upheld it—to be irrevocably, cannot undo this, broken up into 34 separate companies, and it has to happen within the next six months.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

34 / prediction

It took a couple of years, but by 1892, the case reached the Ohio Supreme Court—State Supreme Court—which rules against Standard Oil. Which means that the trust has to be dissolved.

“It took a couple of years, but by 1892, the case reached the Ohio Supreme Court—State Supreme Court—which rules against Standard Oil. Which means that the trust has to be dissolved.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

35 / evaluation

I don't think competitors were having a hard time at this point in history because of the maturation of discovery and drilling technology that we realized there was just way more oil out there than we realized.

“I don't think competitors were having a hard time at this point in history because of the maturation of discovery and drilling technology that we realized there was just way more oil out there than we realized.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Publisher
Acquired

39 / evaluation

There's an open question in my mind of, what if you could just open the books of Standard Oil as a whole rather than break it into a bunch of little parts, but there is no arguing that it was a great move.

“There's an open question in my mind of, what if you could just open the books of Standard Oil as a whole rather than break it into a bunch of little parts, but there is no arguing that it was a great move.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Publisher
Acquired

42 / evaluation

If anything, I think, Standard Oil actually was—I don't know what's better, what's worse depends on your perspective, but to my perspective played these aspects better because they could have taken a rake too far on so many things.

“If anything, I think, Standard Oil actually was—I don't know what's better, what's worse depends on your perspective, but to my perspective played these aspects better because they could have taken a rake too far on so many things.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

43 / recommendation

Mentions personal use of cheap spin bike from Amazon.

“I finally became a card-carrying millennial. I broke down, I bought a Peloton, and it's great. It's really great. Do you need one? No. Actually, for a couple of months, I used just the app and a cheap spin bike from Amazon. It was fantastic. But I found I was using it so much, which just shocked me. I didn't expect that. It's so efficient.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired
Search evidence