The New Standard Oil: Roosevelt's Warning for Modern America

I could be wrong, but I think Theodore Roosevelt saw this coming.

I am old enough to remember the gas shortages of the 1970s. I remember sitting in long lines waiting for gas. I remember stations running out of fuel. I remember the frustration of wondering whether there would be any gas left by the time I finally reached the pump. That was a shortage. What we are seeing today is not. There are no long lines. Gas stations are not running dry. Nobody is being rationed. The fuel is there. Yet millions of Americans pay prices that strain family budgets while some of the world's largest oil companies keep reporting enormous profits. That raises a simple question. If there isn't a shortage, why are so many Americans being squeezed?

More than a century ago, Theodore Roosevelt warned about something he believed could become a threat to the country. Not political power. Economic power. Roosevelt wasn't against business. He wasn't against success. He wasn't against people building wealth. What concerned him was when a handful of corporations became so large and so powerful that they could influence markets, limit competition, and gain leverage over the lives of ordinary Americans. That was the lesson of Standard Oil. The problem wasn't oil. The problem was power.

Roosevelt understood that freedom means very little when people have fewer and fewer real choices. The names have changed since his time, but the question remains the same. How much power should any corporation have over the lives of the American people? We hear a lot about free markets. Most Americans support competition because competition is supposed to keep prices down, reward innovation, and give consumers choices. But what happens when markets become dominated by a small number of giant players? What happens when Americans depend on products they cannot realistically do without? People still have to drive to work. They still have to take their children to school. They still have to buy groceries. They still have to live their lives. And when something becomes a necessity, the people who control it gain tremendous influence.

That brings us back to the money.

Let's Look at the Numbers

2025 Oil Company Earnings

• ExxonMobil: $28.8 billion profit

• Chevron: $20.96 billion profit

• Shell: $18.5 billion profit

Combined Profit: More than $68 billion

2025 CEO Compensation

• Darren Woods (ExxonMobil): $33 million

• Mike Wirth (Chevron): $26.8 million

• Wael Sawan (Shell): $18.5 million

Combined CEO Compensation: Nearly $78 million

Most Americans cannot even picture numbers like that. A person making $60,000 a year would have to work for centuries to earn what some of these executives receive in a single year. Meanwhile, families are struggling with higher grocery bills, higher insurance premiums, rising housing costs, and the basic expense of getting from one place to another. The oil companies are making billions. The executives are making millions. The American people are being told to tighten their belts. Something about that doesn't seem right.

This isn't about jealousy. Americans generally admire success. They admire people who build businesses, create jobs, and take risks. What Americans do not admire is the feeling that the rules are different depending on who you are. They do not like the feeling that the system works one way for powerful corporations and another way for everyone else. And they certainly don't like being told everything is fine while they are struggling to keep up.

That is where Roosevelt's warning becomes relevant. He understood that economic power eventually becomes political power. Large corporations hire lobbyists. Lobbyists influence policy. Policy can protect existing power. Over time, those with the greatest economic influence often gain the greatest political influence as well. That doesn't happen all at once. It happens gradually. It happens one regulation at a time, one merger at a time, one special interest at a time, until ordinary citizens begin to feel as though they no longer have much of a voice in decisions that affect their lives.

I think that is what many Americans are feeling today.

Not Republicans.

Not Democrats.

Americans.

The truck driver trying to support a family.

The nurse working extra shifts.

The mechanic trying to keep his shop open.

The retiree watching every dollar.

The young couple wondering if they will ever be able to afford a home.

These aren't radicals. They are ordinary people asking reasonable questions. Is the system working? Is hard work still enough? Who benefits from all this prosperity? And who doesn't? The purpose of an economy is not simply to produce profits. It is supposed to improve the lives of the people who live under it. The purpose of an economy is not to create billionaires. It is supposed to create opportunity. It is supposed to reward hard work. It is supposed to help families build stable lives and brighter futures.

If corporations continue reporting tens of billions of dollars in profits while working families fall further behind, it is fair to ask whether something is out of balance. If executives earn tens of millions while ordinary Americans struggle to afford necessities, it is fair to ask who the economy is really serving.

Wall Street?

Or Main Street?

Because from where many Americans are standing today, the answer seems increasingly clear.

Theodore Roosevelt understood that a healthy economy is supposed to serve the people, not the other way around. He wasn't against wealth. He wasn't against success. He wasn't against business making a profit. What concerned him was what happens when so much economic power becomes concentrated in so few hands that ordinary Americans begin to feel powerless in their own country. That is the question we should be asking today. Not whether oil companies are successful. Not whether CEOs are wealthy. Not whether shareholders are making money. The real question is whether the American people are benefiting from the economy they helped build. Because an economy is not measured by stock prices alone. It is measured by whether a truck driver can support a family. Whether a young couple can afford a home. Whether retirees can live with dignity. Whether people who work hard can get ahead instead of falling behind.

I could be wrong. But maybe Theodore Roosevelt's warning was never really about oil. Maybe it was about what happens whenever too much power ends up in too few hands. If that's true, then the answer is not to punish success. The answer is to restore balance. We should enforce antitrust laws when industries become too concentrated. We should encourage genuine competition instead of protecting corporate giants. We should reduce the influence of money in politics and make sure markets serve the public as well as investors.

Most of all, we should remember who this country is supposed to work for. The people who drive the trucks. The people who teach our children. The people who build our homes. The people who care for the sick. The people who pay the taxes. The people who raise the families. The people who keep America running every single day.

In other words, the American people.

The goal should never be an economy that creates a handful of billionaires while everyone else struggles to keep up. The goal should be an economy where the people who help create it share prosperity broadly. Theodore Roosevelt understood that. Maybe it's time we remembered it. Because if the system is no longer working for the American people, then the American people have every right, and every responsibility, to reform it until it does. And that starts with demanding an economy that serves Main Street as well as Wall Street. Not one or the other. Both.

That's not a radical idea. It's the American idea.