Corporations did this, and everyone just went with it.

Not true, a socialist movement was on the rise in the US but then the government started abducting and arresting anyone who had any ties to socialism from Truman to McCarthy.

The government has been very clear that any real threat to zombie consumerism/ capitalism will quickly be snuffed out through state sanctioned violence.

Also, the US bombed the fuck out of every country that tried to resist being taken over by western corporations. "The Jakarta Method" is a very interesting read on the untaught atrocities of the US government that forced the world down the path it went down.