In this essay, we detail the fundamental reasons for antitrust policy’s right turn toward the consumer welfare theory and against antitrust enforcement in the 1970s. Two recent articles raise questions as to the cause of this turn, with one article arguing that big business capture facilitated the right turn, while another touts a consensus around science-based economics. We argue that while the capture theory is more persuasive, power dynamics between heterogeneous business alliances shifted due to changes in the economy that eroded the incomes of the wealthiest; reductions in antitrust enforcement was one means of restoring that lost income. This essay details that economic history in support of a more nuanced capture theory.