It is totally unnecessary for government to "dictate every step of a business engagement" to prevent a villanous corporate raider from engaging in the sort of underhanded shenanigans popularized by Michael Douglas in 'Wall Street'. I got nothing against making money, but when you take over a company like J. C. Penny for the sole purpose of sabotaging it from within, and driving it to bankruptcy so you can pull your little corporate raider BS to make a killing, and do so at the expense of thousands of customers that used this store for generations, not to mention killing the jobs of thousands that worked there...that crosses the line. When a company like Enron can stick it to so many with impunity and little to no consequences, that crosses the line. When banks can engage in predatory loan pratices, and the Savings & Loan Industry can pull their crap (https://www.thebalance.com/savings-and-loans-crisis-causes-cost-3306035) all at taxpayer expense, that crosses the line. Speaking of which, the lawmakers drawing a line in the sand, and quoting Gandalf (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xYXUeSmb-Y) is a far cry from socialism / communism. Setting limits on capitalism is not a bad thing....unless one is a greedy millionaire desperate to become a greedy billionaire. How much money is too much money? For the greedy Ritchie Riches of the world that say there is no such thing as too much money, nor are there any means too underhanded or malicious to attain it, limits need to be set, since such creatures are obviously lacking in any sort of ethics or self-control. Telling businesses there are certain rules to the game, such as you cannot dump carcinogens into the water table, or engage in corporate espionage, or surreptitiously sabotage a company from within....in no way requires government "controlling the means of production". Capitalism is the best system anyone has come up with, but taken to its extreme (and without proper controls it will eventually be taken there), it becomes as diabolical and noxious as any Marxist/Leninist hybrid. The corpocracy scenario of the 'RoboCop' movies is absolutely no better than any country you can point to under military junta, or commie control.
Oh I definitely believe in corporate regulation, I just don't believe in ex post facto criminality. What's happened to Sears, JC Penney, K Mart, Radio Shack, etc, isn't, and wasn't illegal, and I don't think we should change that after the fact and throw the executives to the wolves. Really, things like this should serve as cautionary tales to drive regulation in the long run. But my point was that you do have to permit some amount of unseemly behavior because the only way you could completely stamp it out would require the kind of government control of business that would end up with worse consequences in the long run. Let's keep these things in perspective; the economy is still roaring along even without these juggernuts and these companies dying off lets other ones take their place. I'd argue that it's a somewhat normal component of the business cycle.
If some hedge fund purchases Best Buy and strips it bare and runs it into the ground, that doesn't erode any sacred American institution. Best Buy has no more right to life than Mcdonalds. Sure some folks will lose their jobs, but these aren't exactly high-level career paths. And maybe customers have to drive a little further down the road to another store, but people will still have power and drinking water in their houses.
Keep things in perspective. The Enron comparison is a bit much, after all those guys committed actual crimes. A lot of your comparisons are situations in which actual crimes were committed.
I am not advocating for after the fact, I'm saying this sort of crap (capitalism run amuck) is a definite problem, and it needs to end. It serves no beneficial purpose to society, not to customers, and not to workers, and frankly, I don't give a rats ass about whether some poor downtrodden millionaire fatcat will never be able to realize his dream to become a billionaire, or whether some poor downtrodden billionaire fatcat will never be able to realize his lifelong dream to become a trillionaire. I suspect society could manage to get along without more assholes like Soros or the Koch brothers. Unseemly behavior is Martha Stewart or our wonderful politicians padding their pockets with insider trading. The examples I mentioned are egregious and outrageous, and should be classed as criminal...and no doubt would, if not for the fact that we have the best politicians and justice system that (big) money can buy. As for your assertion these were illegal, I have yet to see precious little convictions, nor attempts to recover the millions (billions?) bilked.
No, let's not just get out of the way, and let these 'criminals' do whatever they want, whenever they like. I'm old enough to recall a day when competition forced the cream to rise to the top, and the dregs to sink. Now it's the exact opposite. A great bank like Washington Mutual is thrown to the wolves by its parent company (Chase, the worst bank I ever dealt with) which prospers on its carcass, and government generosity of our tax dollars. 'Too big to fail' means no control, which pretty much guarantees taxpayers get left holding the bag again sometime. Since the fatcats seem to have no self-control over greed, and wholly lacking in any sort of honor or integrity, restrictions need to be placed as to what is or is not acceptable, and exactly what naughty no-nos will earn one a time-out in prison.
Sorry, given a choice between Best Buy or some similar store I use (and thousands work at), or some hedge fund, corporate raider, or similar asshole wanting to get-rich-quick at the expense of Best Buy, me, and the employees....do I need mention which side I fall on? Best Buy has far more right to life than any little greedster! When these scumbags benefit me, & employ thousands, without being apex predators/scavengers to do it, then I will consider revising my opinion.....until then, these critters are just parasites (no better than dindus sucking up the welfare & Food Stamps, or banks sucking on the corporate welfare tit). Ain't no reason why some folks should lose their jobs, or I should "have to drive a little further down the road to another store" just so parasites can parasitize. All businesses (like K-Mart) rise up and eventually fail, but that in no way means such leeches should be allowed to speed their demise. I do not extend the right to life to such vermin, and just because our well paid (off) lawgivers consider such useless bloodsuckers legit, does not mean I do.
There are plenty of example of companies hiding under the skirts of the law. Drug companies price-gouging is one. Used to take Donnatal. Generic was $1 a pill. Then the generic makers all got driven out of business, and the original maker took over, hiked the price to $10 a pill....but only here. Canada $5 a pill. Tijuana $2 a pill. Just because something is legal does not mean it should be, just means the lawgivers cannot be bothered (or they are being paid off). Like I said, I'm all for capitalism, but draw the line at extremist capitalism (https://eand.co/how-predatory-capitalism-imploded-the-future-6a6396b8f2fc)
We have a fundamental disagreement at the core of this situation. I don't think basically any business / money making maneuver should ever be illegal, as long as it's not defrauding investors or customers. For one, government is always a hundred steps behind the scam of the day, so they only end up punishing legit folks, for second, as soon as you allow the government to dictate every step of a business engagement, you basically have what the libertarians call a "government takeover of business" which is a step away from socialism / communism. The government "controlling the means of production" causes immeasurably more harm than a couple businesses being stripped bare and run out of business. A few thousand folks losing their jobs is nothing compared to the totalitarian reality of government controlling every aspect of business. We have plenty of examples around the world both now and in history to look at as a reference.