A recent letter by Jim Chiddix on the perils of corporations being granted too much power by Supreme Court decisions — corporations are people, and money is free speech — was right on (“Corporate power keeps building,” July 29).

I would add another often-forgotten action through another branch of our government. A very “corporate-right,” Reagan-loaded Securities and Exchange Commission in the mid 1980s began to change the limit of shares, or percent of worth, corporations could own of its own stock. Now, profits corporations might have put into employees (pay, benefits, etc.) and research and development instead went to purchasing their own stock.

And guess what? Corporate executives and board members just got a whole lot more powerful. That power was used to influence elections and further weaken our democracy.

Steve Musica

Richmond