During the long run of Republican leadership, prior to the Great Depression, Corporate America and the Republicans had an agreement. Government would not regulate, and business would not be limited by checks and balances. Corporations were able to generate bigger profits at the expense of workers, consumers, the U.S. Treasury, and the U.S. economy. The big were gobbled up by the bigger, and the concept of arms length competition was illusory. Deregulation increased profits, but none of those profits trickled down to the workers. It was laissez fair government at its worst.

Myths were created about corporations and capitalism. A few of those myths were that a publicly held corporation has no duty to the public except to maximize profits for its shareholders. In other words, ignore the fact that the corporation could never exist without the roads, law enforcement, court systems, and military that tax payers provide the corporation so it can do business.

That myth ignored the billions of dollars the public spends every year on research and development that taxpayers dish out at universities through medical research, military research, agricultural research and hundreds of other areas where that corporation benefits from that research.