Because some conglomerate, and other, mergers have proved to be unsound and failed. It has been proposed that government should prohibit such mergers… - Neil H. Jacoby

It is widely believed that big business firms collectively own the preponderance of America’s wealth and are steadily expanding their share. The facts show the contrary. Corporate business owns about 28 percent of the tangible wealth of the United States, and its share has not changed much during the past fifty years. The bulk of the nation’s tangible wealth is held by the household and government sectors of the economy and is not employed in profit-seeking enterprise, corporate or noncorporate. …If the character of a society were to be designated by its major wealth-holding institution, the United States could more appropriately be described as a ‘household state’ than a ‘corporate state’.

The emerging censorship of political payments by U.S. business corporations is a potentially important, but little noted, aspect of the recent controversies about these payments. The operating behavior of American business overseas is becoming a new dimension of the public regulations of business. Until recent years, this regulation was concerned with such matters as healthy working conditions for employees, safe and reliable products, and enforcing competition. The disclosure of political payment abroad has led federal agencies to increase still further their role as arbiters of business behavior.

World War I created a huge drain on U.S. oil. Fear of inadequate domestic reserves caused the U.S. government to urge its nationals to develop foreign sources and to support them in this effort. But American oil companies were unable to obtain exploration concessions in the Middle East and other areas because of the political influence of the British, Dutch, and French empires. The United States called for an ‘open door’ policy. Ultimately, after prolonged and stubborn British opposition, an agreement was made in 1928…