1. The modern economic debate: Should free-markets or socialism replace feudalism? [Late 1700s to early 1800s]
2. Free-market-ish experiments run in many countries (USA, New Zealand, etc.) — all generally successful [1800s and 1900s]
3. Socialist experiments run in many countries (Soviet Union, China, etc.) — all failures. [1900s]
4. At the same time, Third Way compromise integrations of public and private sectors gain ground in many countries (e.g., Keynesianism, USA’s New Deal and Great Society, Britain’s semi-socialist industrial policy). [Mid-1900s]
5. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair announce the Third Way as their official policy, with widespread intellectual support. [Late 1900s]
6. Above-board political control over the private sector (and some vice-versa) increases dramatically. [Late 1900s to early 2000s]
7. Behind the scenes corruption also increases, as entrenched politicians covertly use the merged powers to line their pockets and crony capitalists covertly use politics to line their pockets. [Late 1900s to early 2000s]
8. An overt cronyist is elected to the highest office, and can overtly use the merger of economic and political power to increase his own. [Now, now, and now.]
(Or: From feudalism to feudalism in less than three centuries.)