The Rockefellers held near-absolute political power through old-money leverage

Evidence

“I bet on money—not just any kind of money but old money,” one veteran New York politician says. “New money buys things; old money calls notes.” In politics in the Empire State, the Rockefellers held enough notes to achieve any aim; their power was as close to an absolute as had ever existed in New York. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 4345

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to ch36 claims about Moses’ machine-free power and how economic whisperers, not voters, decided New York’s public works for three decades.