Angie Mangino21h ago
The Waldorf Astoria began as a calculated social insult. William Waldorf Astor built a luxury hotel next to his aunt's mansion just to annoy her. City Beautiful Blog traces the full story, from that Gilded Age family feud to FDR's secret railway platform beneath the Park Avenue building. A well-told piece of New York history.
#NYCHistory #GildedAge #Architecture #NewYork #LocalHistory
https://citybeautifulblog.com/the-waldorf-astoria-on-park-avenue/
The Waldorf Astoria On Park Avenue — City Beautiful BLOG

The glorious Waldorf Astoria on Park Avenue is the second reincarnation of one of New York City’s most legendary hotels. Here is its story.

City Beautiful Blog
Coach Pāṇini ®5d ago

#American oligarchs believing in and supporting the American Experiment is—indeed—considered…quaint.

The #GildedAge 2.0 is built different.

#history #sensemaking

Terminal Tilt6d ago

Wealth inequality has hit Gilded Age levels of absurdity. If you are providing genuine value and building tools for the people, but you can’t pay your bills, you aren’t "running a business." You are performing uncompensated charity for a society that’s being drained by a small group who is hoarding wealth.

I am committed to keeping my work independent and accessible. If you find value in what I do, you can support that mission here:

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Whether it’s through a donation or just sharing the work, I appreciate you helping keep this project human-made.

#TerminalTilt #DigitalSovereignty #ValueForValue #SmallWeb #RightToRepair #WealthInequality #GildedAge #MutualAid #IndependentCreator #Liberapay #NoAI #MutualAidRequest #MutualAidBoost #QueerMutualAid #DisabilityMutualAid #DisabledCreator #QueerCreator

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PugJesusMar 17

IT HAPPENED BEFORE, IT CAN HAPPEN AGAIN

https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/1888589/it-happened-before-it-can-happen-again

Show threadSu_GMar 17

@GhostOnTheHalfShell
I found this para an interesting summary… albeit usual depressing ending
(the rest of the article is about American billionaires’ “giving pledges” - now out of fashion, apparently):
“Wealth last concentrated at such levels during the original Gilded Age, the 1890s through the early 1900s, and the correction didn’t come from philanthropists. It came from trust-busting, the federal income tax, the estate tax, and eventually the New Deal. It arrived as policy that was driven by political pressure too powerful to be ignored. The institutions that forced that correction — a functional Congress, a free press, an empowered regulatory state — look considerably different today.”
https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/15/the-billionaires-made-a-promise-now-some-want-out/

#wealthConcentration #GildedAge #correction #taxes #institutions #USPol
#reconnectingconsequencesToCauses

@jerry

The billionaires made a promise -- now some want out | TechCrunch

In 2010, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates launched a disarmingly simple campaign they called the Giving Pledge: a public commitment, open to the world's

TechCrunch
Show threadMissConstrueMar 7

@tuban_muzuru If his gold spray painted white house isn't the absolute epitome of what America has become, I don't know what is.

I swear to Bob, one of the things that drives me mad about our current crop of #EpsteinClass #GildedAge asshats is that none of them do Obscene Wealth well.

If I were a heartless, soulless billionaire, I would have an airship. A fleet of dirigibles. I would fund a resurgence of steam punk aesthetic. I would have that spider mount from that terrible will smith movie. I would carry a walking stick, and use it liberally to make my point. I'm just saying, if I had "fuck you" money, I'd be having a lot more fun than these guys are.

If I were a billionaire with a soul...I wouldn't be a billionaire, because that's just immoral.

aslamKMar 4
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/us/billionaire-boom-jackson-teton-wyoming.html
Anyone paying attention knows about the ongoing devolution into a gilded age. We've been aware of "the 1%” for at least a decade and a half, since the Occupy movement that popularized it. What doesn't register in all the talk about this 1% is the role of those in the top lower percentages between them and the median who facilitate the devolution because they see their own interests in a similar light.
#gildedage
America’s Billionaires Continue to Flock to Wyoming

Jackson, Wyo., has long been a refuge for the rich. But the last five years saw a boom in wealth of a kind never before seen. Across the country, the 2017 tax cuts minted hundreds of new billionaires.

The New York Times
the #BookSky admin 💙📚Mar 2
BookSky Author in Residence Spotlight 📚💙 Natalie G. Bergman ( @[email protected]) is the author of PEARL BOUND, a sapphic Gothic romantasy set in Gilded Age New York. Her work as a writer explores power, desire, and the dangerous beauty of women claiming their own stories.
Books of My HeartFeb 28
The Harvey Girl by Dana Stabenow 
#DanaStabenow @headofzeus.bsky.social  #BookReview  #4Hearts #GildedAge #NewMexico
https://booksofmyheart.net/2026/02/28/the-harvey-girl-by-dana-stabenow/?fsp_sid=11104
Skull-man(🇨🇺🇨🇦)Feb 21

🏛️ THE MUSEUM OPENS ITS DOORS

February 20, 1872 — New York City awakens to a new cultural landmark. On this day, the Metropolitan Museum of Art welcomes its first visitors to a grand brick building on Fifth Avenue, housing a modest collection of 174 European paintings.

Victorian-era crowds gather in their finest — ladies in bustles, gentlemen in top hats — eager to glimpse the treasures within. Horse-drawn carriages line cobblestone streets as the city embraces this temple of art.

From these humble beginnings would rise one of the world's greatest museums, now home to over 2 million works spanning 5,000 years of human creativity.

This post is 100% AI generated.

#z_image #AIart #MetMuseum #NewYorkHistory #OnThisDay #ArtHistory #GildedAge #CinematicRealism #AtmosphericArt #GenerativeAI #LLM