With the monopolistic Bell System setting the pace, U.S. corporate spending on research and development took off in the 1920s.

FORBES: Globalism and Technology: A Hidden Misconception That Dooms the U.S. Economy

When the Justice Department (and later the courts) declared, in 1998, that Microsoft was guilty of monopolistic practices for bundling a free Internet Explorer with its operating system, in order to cripple a rival browser from Netscape, Mossberg wrote that a free browser better served consumers.

NEWYORKER: Critical Mass