"Once someone has money they can use it to help themselves and "hold down" others." They can and do, it's part of daily business strategy. Sometimes those effo

"Once someone has money they can use it to help themselves and "hold down" others." They can and do, it's part of daily business strategy. Sometimes those efforts are shared if the company is publicly held, even then, the majority of the returns snowball to the large shareholders. A retired good friend of mine from the chemical industry worked at one of the leading chemical businesses. Part of their entire business strategy/model was collecting strategic patents in chemical processes to prevent others from competing and forcing them to pay royalties to that company. He worked there for several decades leading one of their core research divisions and they shut down most their research divisions because the patent game gave more ROI than actually producing innovative new processes. That specific business now primarily focuses on acquiring IP as blockades and tolls to innovators entering the industry. That's just one example but I see many businesses use as many anticompetitive strategies as they can get by with. In the tech industry, often potential competitors are simply bought out early before they become competitors either through offers or hiring their talented staff. Pick a business and they've probably engaged in similar activities. People are not delusional with this assessment, it's spot on.