In the years just before World War I, kings and emperors sat enthroned atop most nations of the globe. In the twentieth century, governments worldwide crossed a great divide in history - from aristocracy to democracy. But we have done so only in government. We have yet to democratize economics. In its emphasis on individuals getting what they earn, free-market theory points toward democratic outcomes, but in its insistence on stockholder primacy, corporate governance points toward aristocratic outcomes.
Corporate governance is antidemocratic.
The wealth-owning class today is a kind of secular aristocracy, much as dictators were secular monarchs. It is a myth with the force of law. We might call it our modem version of the divine right of kings. I believe that these myths arise not from evil intent but from unconscious prejudice. This is not a bias we hold consciously, because our legal structures hold it for us, as they once held biases favoring men over women, or whites over blacks.