The new robber barons are the tech tycoons

"The first time antiimmigration legislation was approved was likely in 1879, in a country where antiimmigrant sentiment tinged with racism had always lurked beneath the surface, despite the wellknown fact that foreign labor was essential to its development. That country was the United States, whose Congress and a Republican president named Chester A. Arthur enacted, in 1882, the socalled Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited the arrival of Chinese workers for at least 10 years."

"During the Gilded Age, those Chinese laborers, who were derogatorily called coolies, built with their own hands the impressive railroad and telegraph network that enabled the development of a nation with vast physical territory and an urgent need for rapid communication routes. The United States became the world's leading producer of steel, coal, wheat, and cotton."

"The law remained in force far longer than 10 years. It lasted until 1943 61 years and only disappeared when World War II began and China became an ally of the United States against Germany and Japan."

The Gilded Age of the 19th century witnessed the creation of enormous industrial fortunes comparable to today's tech wealth, built substantially on exploitative labor practices. Chinese workers, derogatorily termed coolies, constructed critical railroad and telegraph infrastructure essential to American development and communication. Despite foreign labor being vital to national growth, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 prohibited Chinese worker immigration for a decade, reflecting underlying racist sentiment. This restrictive law persisted for 61 years until 1943, when China became a World War II ally. The era produced magnates like Rockefeller and Carnegie who accumulated vast wealth while consolidating monopolistic control, establishing patterns of economic concentration that contemporary tech billionaires continue pursuing today.

Read at english.elpais.com