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We speak student!

00:03

J.P. Morgan personified big banking, [J.P. Morgan appears on the screen with various backgrounds]

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big business, and big mustache. Yeah.

00:09

Some rich guys are born with a silver spoon in their mouths. [A boy with a silver spoon in his mouth]

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But Morgan was born with a silver spatula

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He was born in 1837 into a wealthy New York banking family

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and educated at fine schools in America and Europe.

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Later, he got out of fighting in the Civil War [J.P. Morgan gives money to a beggar]

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by hiring a poor guy to fight for him.

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After that, he cashed in on the war by selling defective rifles to the Union.

00:30

A little flag that said BOOM probably came out of the end.

00:33

Yeah, nice going J.P.

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After the war, Morgan really got down to business, [Morgan stretches a stick with his hands]

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growing his father's banking partnership into an all-Morgan colossus.

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J.P. Morgan's personal specialty

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was taking over failing businesses and reorganizing them to make them profitable. [J P Morgan flips company's growth from loss to profit]

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This helped make him a couple of fortunes,

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since part of the profits went to him. Yeah. [Morgan breaks a cookie and money flows from it]

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Was he a robber baron? Or just a good entrepreneur?

00:55

Was this the same thing as Standard Oil taking over a company

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and its customers and making a ton of cash off of the whole shebang?

01:02

Well, that depends on how you look at things, I guess. [A girl watches]

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The companies would probably have gone out of business

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if Morgan didn't take them over.

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We can't say the same about the companies Standard Oil hijacked. [The boss of Standard Oil Company throws light on the hijacked employees]

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Still, Morgan did create a monopoly of sorts, [A poster displays Morgan's monopoly in the industry]

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and it sure as shootin' made him a bazillionaire.

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One thing's for sure: Morgan was rich.

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How rich are we talking?

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He was so rich that during the financial crisis known as the Panic of 1893,

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he shook the change out of his sofa cushions

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and gave it to the U.S. Treasury, which was running out of gold. [J.P. Morgan shakes his hand]

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Seriously. Not the cushions, but he gave them a bunch of money.

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Instead of the U.S. government bailing out the banks,

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the entire government was bailed out by a single banker. Yeah.

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He's kind of the Michael Phelps of banking there. [J P Morgan pops out from a pool of currency bundle]

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We're talking about 3.5 million ounces of gold, people.

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And Morgan still had half a billion dollars left over to buy

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Carnegie Steel Company in 1901. [J P Morgan gives an envelop of half a billion dollars to Andrew Carnegie]

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Six years later, in 1907, there was another panic.

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Wow, it sounds like people back then really needed to calm down. [A guy screams and runs away]

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Anyway, in the 1907 panic, Morgan once again saved the day.

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He rounded up a bunch of bankers into his home [Batman stands on the terrace]

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and held them hostage until they came up with a plan.

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They used $35 million that the government made available to buy stock

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in failing companies and lend money to failing banks.

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Morgan was even involved in the brainstorming that created the Federal Reserve System [J.P. Morgan gives presentations to bankers]

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to try to prevent future crashes, panics, recessions and depressions.

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J.P. Morgan was like the fairy godmother of the U.S. economy. [J.P. Morgan dressed as a fairy with currency wings]

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Still, the U.S. government decided to bite the hand that fed it

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and started investigating Morgan.

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The Feds figured that nobody could have that much money and not be doing some sketchy stuff.

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In 1913, even as the government was meeting with Morgan to figure out how to stop future panics,

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a congressional committee investigated him, along with other big bankers, to see whether they were involved in any criminal activity.

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But Morgan gave Congress the slip. a congressional committee investigated him, along with other big bankers, to see whether they were involved in any criminal activity.

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But Morgan gave Congress the slip.

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The committee's conclusions did lead to the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment-the one that created the income tax. But Morgan gave Congress the slip.

02:48

The committee's conclusions did lead to the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment-the one that created the income tax.

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Seems the government just couldn't get enough of J.P. Morgan's money. [A guy takes wallet from J.P. Morgan's pocket]

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And, yes, people, in those days there was no income tax.

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You paid a sales tax, which was regressive, meaning rich people and poor people paid the same tax on a pack of cigarettes. [A rich mans lights a cigarette]

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When Morgan wasn't propping up the entire U.S. economy, he used his money buy all kinds of rich guy stuff…art, yachts, jewels…

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This guy was baller. [J.P. Morgan meets Dwayne Johnson]

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Morgan died while traveling in Europe in 1913. [Morgan stands near a river]

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He left $68 million to his grieving heirs,

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which was kind of a slap in the face since he was worth a whole lot more than that.

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Well, of course, that's a slap in the face we wouldn't mind, but, uh, just try us. [Morgan throws money]

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