The Man Who Saved the Whales

In the last half of the 19th century, whales were facing extinction.  They were hunted in large part because their oil was the best,  most affordable illuminant available to growing western nations.  One man more than any other headed off  their extinction, a man whose picture should be in on the wall of every Greenpeace office:  John D. Rockefeller, founder of the Standard Oil Company. It  is  an understatement to say that entrepreneurs of the 19th century like Rockefeller have a bad reputation.  As a group, they are called “robber barons,” a term that implies their wealth came purely from theft rather than from any value creation.  While it is said that “history is written by the victors”, I would observe that despite the fact that socialism and communism have been given a pretty good drubbing over the last 30 years, the statists still seem to be writing history.

Read More in Cambodia Insight Website on Issue 6 Page 14.