On the Fact that as Early as 1880, Many Experts Had Begun Predicting the Demise of Not Just Standard Oil but of the Entire U.S. Oil Industry (the Fact that Electricity - Powered by Coal - Had Started Supplanting Kerosene for Lighting, the fact that the Russians Had Discovered Massive Quantities of Oil at Baku and Were at Least Partially Successful in Marketing it in Europe, etc.)

Yeah, the experts (AKA pessimists) didn't foresee a) the massive discovery of oil in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana, etc., b) the need for gasoline as a power source of the future, and c) the incredible ingenuity, resourcefulness, and efficiency of entrepreneurs like Rockefeller who were ultimately able to out-compete the Russians....Talk about being way off, huh?