Jacob Goldstein
Jacob Goldstein spent more than a decade as co-host of the Planet Money podcast. He's also the author of the book Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing, which the New…
Join Pushkin+
Gain access to ad-free versions of 20+ podcasts from the Pushkin library along with exclusive bonus episodes and other member benefits.
Two-hundred-and-fifty years ago George Washington was fighting the Revolutionary War against the British, but Robert Morris doing something just as vital. He was raising money for the fighting and buying the gunpowder, tents, food and uniforms Washington’s army needed.
Morris had been a merchant before the revolution, so didn’t see why he shouldn’t personally profit from his work supplying the colonists’ struggle. He emerged from the war as a rich man and owned huge tracts of land. But the turbulent final years of the 18th Century saw Morris go first into substantial debt and then fall into utter ruin.
Write to us at businesshistory@pushkin.fm
The Hosts
Robert Smith
Robert Smith, co-host of the Business History podcast, is a Professor of Journalism at Columbia University and contributing host of NPR's Planet Money where he tells stories about how the…
