One group of oligarchs out bribing an older group isn't 'competition' and 'free trade'. Robber barons warred on each other all the time; see the history of railroads and steel for how that works. Harriman against Morgan, Gould against Harridan and Morgan, Carnegie against Gates and Rockefeller, Morgan against Rockefeller, Edison against Westinghouse, Morgan against Westinghouse, Ford against Sloan and Dupont, and on and on. None of it good for consumers and small business, with the possible exception of Ford and his contrarian policy of producing ever cheaper cars, but then he had a gangster as an enforcer and sent his 'social dept.' into his employees homes and decided what they could read and say, so he can't really brag either.
In order to manage a large and diverse workforce, Ford Motor Company created the Sociological Department and English school. Learn more here.
www.thehenryford.org
In order to manage and control such a large and diverse workforce, John R. Lee, Head of Personnel, created the Sociological Department in 1914. The Sociological Department established a system of rules and codes of behavior for Ford employees that they had to meet, in order to qualify for the $5 day pay rate. The Sociological Department monitored employees at home, as well as on the job. Investigators made unannounced visits to employees' homes and evaluated the cleanliness of the home, noted if the family had renters, checked with school attendance offices to determine if children were attending school and monitored bank records to verify that employees made regular deposits. Sociological Department investigators also assisted workers' families by teaching wives about home care, cooking and hygiene.
Sounds benign here, eh? When I say right wing ideologies and left wing ideologies are distinctions without a difference, it;s because it's true. Commies make their oppression sound benign, too, but we all know they love mass murder as a solution to all social and economic problems, and all corporatists consider workers to be their personal property. The only reason the U.S. differed is that private armies were a lot more expensive here than in Europe, thus they sought alternative methods of thuggery here, the military being too small to handle much most of our history.