Episode 27: Sears Was the 20th Century’s Amazon
Channel: Foundation for Economic Education
Date: 2018-10-19

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After 132 years, Sears is filing for bankruptcy. But it’s not necessarily over for the company which has a surprising and honorable history of disrupting racial hierarchies in the days of Jim Crow. On this episode of the FEEcast, Richard, Anna Jane, and Marianne discuss the company that was truly the Amazon of the 20th century and tackle the question: how likely is it that today's corporate giants will stand the test of time?

Show Notes:

Sears, the store that changed America, declares bankruptcy:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/15/business/sears-bankruptcy/index.html

How Sears mail-order catalogs undermined Jim Crow racism:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-sears-history-racism-jim-crow-20181016-story.html

Antitrust Myths and the Fall of Sears
https://fee.org/articles/antitrust-myths-and-the-fall-of-sears/

Chris Kjorness on How Capitalism Midwifed the Birth of the Blues:

https://reason.com/blog/2012/04/19/chris-kjorness-on-how-capitalism-midwife

Only 53 US Companies Have Been on the Fortune 500 since 1955, Thanks to the Creative Destruction That Fuels Economic Prosperity:

https://fee.org/articles/only-53-us-companies-have-been-on-the-fortune-500-since-1955-thanks-to-the-creative-destruction-that-fuels-economic-prosperity/