The problem with the examples you cite are that the industries that were overcome DID NOT see it coming- and so did not suppress the competition accordingly.
IBM thought the future lay in hardware and Bill Gates knew differently. US car companies did not foresee the decades long threat from Japan. In the case of free energy, a dramatic discovery could get an inventor killed, if it gets perceived as too precipitous. With only a little excess energy reported from Cold Fusion, it isn't taken seriously (yet). When Ralph Nader emerged as a sudden threat, GM sent out "investigators" against him. Back during the Carter Adminstration, a corporate head made A cryptic remark about "controls" on solar energy, if it eliminated fossil fuel dramatically. If anyone discovers anything dramatically better, DOWNPLAY IT. Keep it to yourself, at least at first - and be cautious. If they kill tens of thousands In the Middle East over oil, then a few quiet domestic "accidents" are acceptable. Get a copy of "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" and consider its contents.
