I think things were far worse not so long ago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company Although it migh

I think things were far worse not so long ago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company Although it might be a stretch to compare them to a modern-day corporation, they were a private company and had territories, a (edit: govt. chartered) monopoly and even their own army. edit: In fact, the Tea act of 1773, that lead directly to the Boston Tea Party, was because the EIC was facing financial troubles after a famine in Bengal. Maybe these things come and go in cycles.