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The United States of America is changing like never before.
美利坚合众国发生着前所未有的改变
In just a decade,
仅仅花了十年时间
the country has become one of the most advanced on earth,
美国就成为了全球最进步的国家之一
and darkness no longer means the end of the day.
黑暗降临不再意味着一天的结束
Two men have driven this remaking of the country.
两个男人推动了整个国家的改造
John D. Rockefeller and Cornelius Vanderbilt
约翰·D·洛克菲勒和科尼利厄斯·范德比尔特
are locked in a battle of wills.
陷入了一场意志力的战争
Commodore.
船长
Mr. Rockefeller.
洛克菲勒先生
Vanderbilt and his competitors are in drastic
范德比尔特和他的竞争对手们
search of passengers and cargo to fill the trains running on their lines.
正四处寻找乘客和货物来装满各自线路上的火车
In the 1870s, the country needed to be connected via railroads,
1870年代 整个国家需要铁路来连接
and what happens then is everybody who thinks they have an edge
当时所有认为自己在铁路行业拥有优势的人
in the railroad business goes out and raises money
都开始四处筹集资金
and they start their own railroad.
开始自己的铁路生意
And what happened then is we've seen happen many of times
这同之后很多时候一样
since then, is it created a huge bubble.
创造出了巨大的泡沫
John D. Rockefeller's oil
约翰·D·洛克菲勒的油
makes up nearly forty percent of the cargo shipped on the rails.
占据了铁路运输40%的货运量
But when Vanderbilt teams with
不过就在范德比尔特
his biggest rival to push for a rate increase,
联合最大对手 试图推高运输价格时
Rockefeller takes it as a declaration of war.
洛克菲勒将这看成了对他的宣战
He builds a pipeline in response,
作为回应 他建立起了管道
and begins to pull his shipments.
并停止使用铁路进行运输
And since the railroads have been drastically overbuilt,
而这时的铁路明显建造过度
losing cargo means losing money.
失去货物就意味着损失金钱
Stocks plummet as investors run scared.
投资者胆战心惊 股价垂直下落
When prices get out of control,
价格失去控制时
and smart people decide,
聪明人心想
"Wow, this thing is a bubble, I want out",
这是泡沫，我要出去
then you can get a collapse very quickly.
这时崩盘很快就会发生
By the time the Panic is through,
大恐慌过后
one-third of the country's 360 railroad companies have gone bankrupt.
全国360家铁路公司有1/3都宣告破产
Every crisis of this type,
这类危机中的任何一次
whether it's 2008,
无论是2008年
or 1873,
还是1873年
has got the same roots.
根源都一样
Namely, that it was unanticipated.
也就是 谁都不曾预料到
So a necessary condition for a crisis is nobody expects it.
没人预料到是危机暴发的必要条件
The crash is the worst America has seen in its short history.
这次崩溃是美国短暂历史中最为糟糕的一次
