05/01/2026
CIO Q1 2026 – The New Robber Barons: Artificial Intelligence, Circular Economics, and the Shadow of 1929
History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes. In 1929, the United States stood at the peak of a “New Era.” Electricity had revolutionized manufacturing, the radio had connected the masses, and the automobile had reshaped the American landscape.
Stock prices were permanently high, or so the economists claimed. Beneath this veneer of endless prosperity, however, lay a fragile web of circular credit, monopolistic control, and speculative excess that would soon snap, plunging the world into the Great Depression.
The New Robber Barons: Artificial Intelligence, Circular Economics, and the Shadow of 1929 By 1: Introduction – The Echo of History History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes. In 1929, the U
