Unfortunately, the wealthy land speculators and merchants were able to overcome those difficulties. Socialism, centralized and imposed by force, has caused even more human suffering than corporatism. Marxist philosophy has led the left down a path of horror. The left needs a new paradigm and community-based economics is the best candidate. Community based economics implies cooperation and competition.
Competition is like fire-both dangerous and useful.
When people compete to destroy the opposition, it is socially detrimental. Cooperation and competition, like most things in nature, have to be balanced in order to function optimally. But reality shows that it's just a matter of time for small business to expand into corporations and change the system into a market based economy. Smith doesn't explain how the state under CBS will prevent small business from becoming large enterprises. This does not jibe with classical socialism under which the state is supposed to be phased out.