Corporate Capture
The Corporate Capture capture lane traces 564 verified events documenting this mechanism of institutional capture.
Top 10 actors in this lane
10 actors · 1142–2026
Capture lanecorruptiondemocraticexecutivefinancialintelligencejudiciallaborlegislativemediamilitaryotherregulatory
Status
confirmed
alleged
disputed
| Date | Event | Lanes | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002-01-08 | No Child Left Behind Act Creates Testing-Industrial Complex and Punitive Accountability Regime
3 src President George W. Bush · Senator Ted Kennedy · Representative John Boehner · Pearson Education · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2002-01-01 | ALEC Adopts Living Wage Mandate Preemption Act to Block Local Minimum Wage Increases
3 src American Legislative Exchange Council · National Restaurant Association · McDonald's · Walmart · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2002-01-01 | Insulin Prices Begin Tripling 2002-2013 as Three Manufacturers Control 99% of Market - From $231 to $762 Annually
4 src Eli Lilly · Novo Nordisk · Sanofi · Congressional Diabetes Caucus · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2001-12-02 | Enron Bankruptcy After Energy Task Force Meetings
3 src Dick Cheney · Kenneth Lay · Jeffrey Skilling · Andrew Fastow | confirmed | |
| 2001-10-22 | SEC Launches Investigation Into Enron's Related-Party Transactions
3 src Securities and Exchange Commission · Andrew Fastow · Kenneth Lay | confirmed | |
| 2001-10-16 | Enron Reports $618 Million Loss and Reveals CFO Partnership Schemes
3 src Kenneth Lay · Jeffrey Skilling · Andrew Fastow | confirmed | |
| 2001-09-04 | Oracle Hires CIA Executive Director David Carney, Establishes Information Assurance Center
3 src Oracle · David W. Carney · Central Intelligence Agency · Larry Ellison | confirmed | |
| 2001-05-31 | Air Force Secretary James Roche Appointed After 17 Years as Northrop Grumman Executive
3 src James G. Roche · Northrop Grumman · U.S. Air Force · U.S. Department of Defense · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2001-05-17 | National Energy Policy Adopts Enron Recommendations Verbatim
3 src Dick Cheney · George W. Bush · Enron · Kenneth Lay · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2001-04-17 | Kenneth Lay's Influence on Cheney Energy Task Force: Corporate Policy Capture
4 src Kenneth Lay · Dick Cheney · George W. Bush · Enron Corporation | confirmed | |
| 2001-02-09 | Cheney Energy Task Force Begins Secret Meetings with Enron Executives
4 src Dick Cheney · Kenneth Lay · George W. Bush | confirmed | |
| 2001-01-01 | Bush and Obama Administrations Cement Bipartisan Chicago School Antitrust Consensus, Approve Historic Consolidation
4 src George W. Bush · Barack Obama · Department of Justice · Federal Trade Commission | confirmed | |
| 2001-01-01 | Purdue Pharma Bonus System Incentivizes Sales Reps to Target Highest Opioid Prescribers
3 src Purdue Pharma · Sackler Family | confirmed | |
| 2000-08-30 | Clear Channel Acquires AMFM Inc. Creating Radio Monopoly with Over 1,200 Stations
4 src Clear Channel Communications · Lowry Mays | confirmed | |
| 2000-05-05 | ALEC's 'Environmental Literacy Improvement Act' Mandates Teaching Climate Denial in Schools
4 src American Legislative Exchange Council · Sandy Liddy Bourne · Heartland Institute · Koch Industries · +5 | confirmed | |
| 2000-02-01 | Halliburton Opens Tehran Office While Cheney Still CEO, Completing $40 Million Annual Iran Business Through Cayman Islands Subsidiary Designed to Circumvent U.S. Sanctions
3 src Dick Cheney · Halliburton · Halliburton Products and Services · Bill Clinton | confirmed | |
| 2000-01-01 | ALEC Promotes Private Correctional Facilities Act Written by CCA Executives on Criminal Justice Task Force
4 src American Legislative Exchange Council · Corrections Corporation of America · Brad Wiggins · John Rees · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2000-01-01 | Major Strikes Collapse to 16 Annually, Down 95% from Pre-PATCO Era
2 src American workers · Bureau of Labor Statistics · U.S. unions | confirmed | |
| 2000-01-01 | Opioid Epidemic Death Toll Reaches 500,000 Americans Between 2000-2020
3 src Purdue Pharma · Sackler Family · Food and Drug Administration · Drug Enforcement Administration · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2000-01-01 | Stock Options Become Primary Executive Compensation, Aligning CEO Interests with Short-Term Stock Price Manipulation
3 src Corporate boards · Compensation consultants · Wall Street | confirmed | |
| 2000-01-01 | Top 10% of Firms Capture 90% of Profit Growth Between 1980-2000, Documenting Monopolization
3 src Dominant firms · Smaller competitors | confirmed | |
| 1999-09-01 | CIA Establishes In-Q-Tel as Revolutionary Venture Capital Arm
3 src Central Intelligence Agency · George Tenet · Gilman Louie · Norman Augustine · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1998-06-30 | McKinsey Leverages Asian Financial Crisis for Consulting Expansion
3 src McKinsey & Company · International Monetary Fund · World Bank · Thailand Government · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1998-06-15 | Corporate Exploitation of Asian Financial Crisis Structural Adjustment
3 src Goldman Sachs · Citigroup · McKinsey & Company · International Monetary Fund · +3 | confirmed | |
| 1998-01-01 | CIA Begins Developing In-Q-Tel Concept -- Intelligence Community Plans Entry Into Venture Capital
4 src George Tenet · Central Intelligence Agency · Sue Gordon · Ruth David · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1997-12-01 | Kroll Associates Merges with O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt, Expanding Into Full-Service Security and Intelligence Firm
4 src Jules Kroll · Kroll Associates · O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt · Kroll-O'Gara Company | confirmed | |
| 1997-08-01 | Boeing-McDonnell Douglas Merger Approved: Defense Contractor Consolidation Creates Oligopoly
3 src Boeing · McDonnell Douglas · Federal Trade Commission · U.S. Department of Defense · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1996-01-01 | George Friedman Founds Strategic Forecasting (Stratfor), the "Shadow CIA" of Private Geopolitical Intelligence
4 src George Friedman · Stratfor · Matthew Baker | confirmed | |
| 1996-01-01 | Purdue Pharma Launches Aggressive OxyContin Marketing Campaign Based on False Claims
4 src Purdue Pharma · Sackler Family · Richard Sackler | confirmed | |
| 1995-04-10 | McNamara Memoir Admits Vietnam War Was "Terribly Wrong" - Confession Comes 20 Years Too Late for 58,000 Dead Americans
3 src Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara · Brian VanDeMark (co-author) | confirmed | |
| 1995-01-10 | CIA Director James Woolsey Departs, Begins Three-Decade Career Monetizing Intelligence Credentials
3 src James Woolsey · Booz Allen Hamilton · Paladin Capital Group · Foundation for Defense of Democracies · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1995-01-01 | ALEC Develops Tax and Expenditure Limitation Act - Model Bill to Restrict State Revenue and Manufacture Fiscal Crisis
4 src American Legislative Exchange Council · Colorado General Assembly · Corporate funders | confirmed | |
| 1995-01-01 | K Street Project Systematically Transforms Washington Lobbying Infrastructure
3 src Tom DeLay · Rick Santorum · Grover Norquist | confirmed | |
| 1994-01-01 | ALEC Passes Three Strikes Model Legislation Co-Sponsored by Private Prison Industry and NRA
4 src American Legislative Exchange Council · Corrections Corporation of America · GEO Group · National Rifle Association · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1994-01-01 | NAFTA Implementation Begins Manufacturing Job Hemorrhage
4 src Bill Clinton · George H.W. Bush · Carlos Salinas de Gortari · U.S. Chamber of Commerce · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1993-12-08 | Clinton Signs NAFTA Creating Corporate Tribunals to Override National Laws
4 src Bill Clinton · Al Gore · Robert Rubin · NAFTA Corporate Lobbies · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1993-06-01 | $25 Million Corporate Lobbying Blitz Drives NAFTA Passage Despite Labor Opposition
4 src Business Roundtable · U.S. Chamber of Commerce · National Association of Manufacturers · American Express · +3 | confirmed | |
| 1993-02-26 | Port Authority Hires Kroll Associates After 1993 World Trade Center Bombing -- Private Intelligence Enters Counterterrorism
4 src Jules Kroll · Kroll Associates · Brian Michael Jenkins · Port Authority of New York and New Jersey | confirmed | |
| 1990-11-29 | Immigration Act of 1990 Expands Legal Immigration, Creates Diversity Visa Lottery
3 src George H.W. Bush · Edward Kennedy · Alan Simpson · U.S. Congress | confirmed | |
| 1990-07-25 | Keating Lincoln Savings Civil RICO Fraud Indictment
3 src Charles H. Keating Jr. · Charles Keating III | confirmed | |
| 1990-01-01 | Hoover Institution Organizational Profile: Leveraging Stanford Prestige for Conservative Policy Legitimacy
4 src Hoover Institution · Herbert Hoover · Stanford University · Ronald Reagan · +5 | confirmed | |
| 1990-01-01 | Union Avoidance Consulting Industry Emerges as $400+ Million Annual Business
3 src Union avoidance consultants · Corporate employers · Labor Management Institute · National Labor Relations Board | confirmed | |
| 1989-09-25 | Christian Coalition Founded - Grassroots Religious Right Electoral Infrastructure
3 src Pat Robertson · Ralph Reed · Christian Coalition | confirmed | |
| 1989-03-04 | Eastern Airlines Strike Leads to Corporate Liquidation, Frank Lorenzo's Union Destruction Model
3 src Eastern Airlines · Frank Lorenzo · International Association of Machinists · Air Line Pilots Association · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1989-02-09 | KKR's $31 Billion RJR Nabisco Leveraged Buyout Establishes Private Equity Wealth Extraction Model
3 src KKR · Henry Kravis · Ross Johnson · RJR Nabisco | confirmed | |
| 1988-11-23 | IBP Settles Record OSHA Case for Systematic Injury Underreporting at Dakota City Meatpacking Plant
3 src IBP Inc. · Occupational Safety and Health Administration · United Food and Commercial Workers · Congressional Investigators | confirmed | |
| 1988-08-01 | Rush Limbaugh National Syndication Begins - Conservative Talk Radio Ecosystem Created
3 src Rush Limbaugh · Edward F. McLaughlin · EFM Media Management · ABC Radio Network | confirmed | |
| 1987-12-01 | Keating Lincoln Savings Irvine Fraudulent Bond Scheme
4 src Charles H. Keating Jr. · Lincoln Savings and Loan Association | confirmed | |
| 1987-01-01 | Cato Institute Organizational Profile: 'Libertarian' Cover for Corporate Deregulation Agenda
4 src Cato Institute · Charles Koch · Ed Crane · Murray Rothbard · +4 | confirmed | |
| 1987-01-01 | Heritage Foundation Budget Reaches $14.3 Million - Scale of Corporate Policy Investment
3 src Heritage Foundation · Joseph Coors · Richard Mellon Scaife · Edwin Feulner · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1987-01-01 | Olin Foundation Law and Economics Programs Expand to Elite Law Schools
3 src John M. Olin Foundation · William E. Simon · Stanford Law School · Harvard Law School · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1987-01-01 | Philanthropy Roundtable Founded - Conservative Donor Coordination Infrastructure
3 src Philanthropy Roundtable · Institute for Educational Affairs · Koch Network · Conservative foundations | confirmed | |
| 1986-04-07 | EMTALA Passes as Unfunded Mandate, Enabling Insurance Industry to Shift Emergency Care Costs to Hospitals
3 src Ronald Reagan · American Hospital Association · Health Insurance Association of America · Pete Stark | confirmed | |
| 1986-01-01 | State Policy Network (Madison Group) Founded - State-Level Think Tank Coordination
3 src Thomas A. Roe · American Legislative Exchange Council · Heritage Foundation · South Carolina Policy Council · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1985-08-17 | Hormel Strike Broken Through Permanent Replacement, Ending Pattern Bargaining in Meatpacking
3 src Hormel · United Food and Commercial Workers Local P-9 · Austin Minnesota workers · National Guard | confirmed | |
| 1985-01-01 | Trickle-Down Legacy: Reagan Policies Make Inequality Structural Feature
3 src Ronald Reagan · American workers · Wealthy elite · Corporate executives | confirmed | |
| 1984-10-30 | Cable Communications Policy Act - Media Deregulation and Consolidation Enabled
3 src Ronald Reagan · Barry Goldwater · Federal Communications Commission · Cable industry | confirmed | |
| 1984-05-07 | Agent Orange Settlement - Chemical Companies Pay $180 Million to Veterans Without Admitting Liability - Victims Receive Average $3,800
3 src Dow Chemical Company · Monsanto Company · Vietnam Veterans · Seven Chemical Companies · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1984-01-01 | Manhattan Institute Organizational Profile: Urban Policy Infrastructure and CIA-Connected Think Tank
4 src Manhattan Institute · William J. Casey · Antony Fisher · Charles Murray · +6 | confirmed | |
| 1983-06-30 | Phelps Dodge Breaks Copper Strike Using Permanent Replacement Workers, Destroying Union
3 src Phelps Dodge Corporation · United Steelworkers · Arizona miners · National Labor Relations Board | confirmed | |
| 1983-04-26 | A Nation at Risk Report Launches Education Reform Industry, Lays Groundwork for Privatization
3 src National Commission on Excellence in Education · Secretary of Education Terrel Bell · Ronald Reagan · Heritage Foundation | confirmed | |
| 1982-11-17 | SEC Adopts Rule 10b-18, Legalizing Stock Buybacks and Creating Major Wealth Extraction Mechanism
3 src Securities and Exchange Commission · John Shad · Ronald Reagan | confirmed | |
| 1982-06-14 | DOJ Issues Baxter's 1982 Merger Guidelines, Revolutionizing Antitrust Enforcement Toward Corporate Permissiveness
4 src William F. Baxter · Department of Justice · Federal Trade Commission · Ronald Reagan | confirmed | |
| 1982-04-22 | Berkeley Pit Mine Closes on Earth Day, Pumps Shut Off, Creating Toxic Lake Superfund Site
3 src Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) · Anaconda Copper Mining Company · Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · Montana Department of Environmental Quality · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1982-01-08 | AT&T Breakup Settlement Finalized, Becoming Last Major Antitrust Action for Decades
3 src AT&T · Department of Justice · Ronald Reagan · Robert Bork | confirmed | |
| 1982-01-01 | S&L Deregulation Creates Moral Hazard: Recipe for Systematic Fraud
3 src Ronald Reagan · Savings and Loan industry · Federal Home Loan Bank Board · Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation | confirmed | |
| 1981-12-01 | CNP Completes "Three-Legged Stool" with Heritage and ALEC - Coordination Infrastructure Operational
2 src Council for National Policy · Heritage Foundation · American Legislative Exchange Council · Paul Weyrich | confirmed | |
| 1981-08-13 | Reagan Signs ERTA: Massive Tax Cuts for Wealthy Begin Inequality Explosion
4 src Ronald Reagan · U.S. Congress · Jack Kemp · William Roth | confirmed | |
| 1981-05-01 | Council for National Policy Founded - Secret Conservative Coordination Network
3 src Tim LaHaye · Paul Weyrich · Nelson Bunker Hunt · Howard Phillips · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1981-04-13 | Reagan Appoints William Baxter as Antitrust Chief, Enforcement Collapses as Chicago School Takes Control
4 src Ronald Reagan · William F. Baxter · Department of Justice · Stanford Law School · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1981-04-01 | Jack Welch Becomes GE CEO, Launches 'Shareholder Value' Era and Mass Layoffs
3 src Jack Welch · General Electric | confirmed | |
| 1981-01-20 | Reagan Inauguration Begins Antitrust Revolution: Eight Years of Systematic Enforcement Collapse and Corporate Consolidation
4 src Ronald Reagan · William F. Baxter · Douglas Ginsburg · Robert Bork · +4 | confirmed | |
| 1981-01-01 | Corporate Tax Avoidance Explosion: Reagan Loopholes Slash Corporate Revenue
3 src Ronald Reagan · Corporate America · Internal Revenue Service · U.S. Congress | confirmed | |
| 1981-01-01 | Reagan Environmental Deregulation: Systematic Dismantling of Protections
3 src Ronald Reagan · Anne Gorsuch · James Watt · U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1981-01-01 | Reagan Era Wage Stagnation: Real Wages Decline as Inequality Accelerates
4 src Ronald Reagan · American workers · Labor unions · Corporate America | confirmed | |
| 1981-01-01 | Wealth Inequality Explodes: Reagan Policies Accelerate Income Gap
4 src Ronald Reagan · Top 1% earners · Middle class · Working class | confirmed | |
| 1980-07-01 | Reagan Aide Edwin Meese Coordinates with Heritage on "Mandate for Leadership"
2 src Edwin Meese III · Ronald Reagan · Edwin Feulner · Heritage Foundation · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1980-01-01 | Charles Heatherly Produces "Mandate for Leadership" Outline, Assembling 300 Contributors
2 src Charles Heatherly · Edwin Feulner · Heritage Foundation | confirmed | |
| 1980-01-01 | Corporate Political Mobilization Accelerates Following Powell Memo and Business Roundtable Formation
3 src Business Roundtable · U.S. Chamber of Commerce · National Association of Manufacturers · Lewis Powell · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1979-06-01 | Falwell and Weyrich Found Moral Majority, Fusing Religious Right with Corporate Agenda
3 src Jerry Falwell · Paul Weyrich · Ed McAteer · Richard Viguerie · +3 | confirmed | |
| 1979-06-01 | Moral Majority Founded - Corporate Agenda Masked by Religious Cultural Warfare
3 src Paul Weyrich · Jerry Falwell · Richard Viguerie · Howard Phillips · +3 | confirmed | |
| 1979-01-08 | Vietnam Veterans File Agent Orange Class Action Lawsuit Against Dow Chemical and Monsanto - Corporations Deny Liability Despite Evidence
3 src Lawyer Victor Yannacone · Dow Chemical Company · Monsanto Company · Vietnam Veterans · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1979-01-01 | Heritage Foundation Begins "Mandate for Leadership" Preparation for Reagan Transition
2 src Edwin Feulner · Jack Eckerd · Robert Krieble · Heritage Foundation | confirmed | |
| 1979-01-01 | Supreme Court Adopts Bork's "Consumer Welfare Standard," Transforming Antitrust Law
3 src U.S. Supreme Court · Robert Bork | confirmed | |
| 1979-01-01 | Wage Stagnation Era Begins: Productivity-Pay Gap Opens as Union Power Collapses
3 src American workers · Corporate management · Federal Reserve · Business Roundtable | confirmed | |
| 1978-12-31 | Corporate Lobbying Presence Quintuples in Washington DC
3 src U.S. Chamber of Commerce · Corporate Lobbying Industry · Lewis Powell · Fortune 500 Leadership | confirmed | |
| 1978-01-01 | Manhattan Institute Founded by CIA Director William Casey - Intelligence-Policy Crossover
3 src William J. Casey · Antony Fisher · Charles Murray · George Kelling · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1978-01-01 | Robert Bork Publishes "The Antitrust Paradox," Revolutionizing Corporate Power
3 src Robert Bork · Aaron Director · University of Chicago · Chicago School of Economics | confirmed | |
| 1977-07-01 | Exxon Internal Climate Research Program Confirms Human-Caused Global Warming
3 src James Black · Roger Cohen · ExxonMobil · Exxon Corporation · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1977-06-23 | Supreme Court Decides GTE Sylvania, First Major Chicago School Antitrust Victory
2 src U.S. Supreme Court · Aaron Director · Chicago School of Economics | confirmed | |
| 1977-01-01 | American Enterprise Institute Budget Surges to $10 Million - Think Tank Infrastructure Expansion
3 src American Enterprise Institute · William Baroody Sr. · Gerald Ford · Howard Pew Freedom Trust · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1977-01-01 | American Enterprise Institute Organizational Profile: Transforming Industry Lobby into 'Scholarly' Think Tank
4 src American Enterprise Institute · Irving Kristol · Jeane Kirkpatrick · Dick Cheney · +4 | confirmed | |
| 1977-01-01 | Charles Koch Founds Cato Institute with $500,000, Expanding Libertarian Infrastructure
3 src Charles Koch · Ed Crane · Murray Rothbard · Koch Industries | confirmed | |
| 1977-01-01 | Department of Justice Announces Abandonment of Robinson-Patman Act Enforcement, Adopting Chicago School Critique
4 src Department of Justice · Robert Bork · Federal Trade Commission · Chicago School of Economics | confirmed | |
| 1977-01-01 | National Association of Business PACs Founded to Coordinate Corporate Political Money
2 src National Association of Business Political Action Committees | confirmed | |
| 1977-01-01 | Oracle Corporation Founded to Build CIA Database, Named After CIA Project
3 src Larry Ellison · Robert Miner · Central Intelligence Agency · Oracle | confirmed | |
| 1977-01-01 | William E. Simon Becomes Olin Foundation President, Launching Strategic Conservative Funding
2 src William E. Simon · John M. Olin · John M. Olin Foundation | confirmed | |
| 1976-12-31 | Corporate PAC Explosion: 433 New Corporate PACs Formed in Post-Buckley Era
4 src Corporate America · Business Roundtable · U.S. Chamber of Commerce · Federal Election Commission | confirmed | |
| 1976-09-30 | Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Requires Pre-Merger Notification, Last Major Antitrust Strengthening Before Reagan Dismantlement
4 src Gerald Ford · Senator Philip Hart · Senator Hugh Scott · Representative Peter Rodino · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1975-01-01 | Richard Viguerie Perfects Direct Mail Fundraising - Conservative Grassroots Infrastructure
3 src Richard Viguerie · Paul Weyrich · Howard Phillips · Morton Blackwell · +2 | confirmed |