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Between 1875 and 1900, the assets of trust companies in New York City grew at a compound annual rate of 9.6%, compared with 4.1% for national banks. The purpose of this book, first published in 1986, is to bring to light the entrepreneurial, economic and political forces which prompted the growth of the trust companies and resolved the movement into a well-defined financial intermediary and eventually led to the merging of the trust movement with commercial banks.

Trust and Power argues that corporations have faced conflicts with the very consumers whose loyalty they sought. The book provides novel insights into the dialogue between modern corporations and consumers by examining automobiles during the 20th century. In the new market at the turn of the century, automakers produced defective cars, and consumers faced risks of physical injuries as well as financial losses. By the 1920s automobiles were sold in a mass market where state agencies intervened to monitor, however imperfectly, product quality and fair pricing mechanisms. After 1945, the market matured as most U.S. families came to rely on auto transport. Automakers sold a product suited to the unequal distribution of income. Again, the state intervened to regulate relations between buyers and sellers in terms of who had access to credit, and thus the ability to purchase expensive durables like automobiles.

Richie covers the so what of blockchain as opposed to the crowded area of the what of blockchain. In the 1st half readers self-realize that a trust gap is exponentially expanding in commerce, and humans are carrying the unnecessary burden to always trust but verify with intermediaries. Today, we the human species start every company or transaction with the automatic subliminal assumption that counterparties cannot be trusted. In the 2nd half, Richie re-positions blockchain from a paradigm that is looking for a problem, into a paradigm that would help close the trust gap. Blockchain, mankind’s first opportunity for trusted commerce at global scale. About the Author