I think she's right. Monopolies were forming naturally in the late 1800s shortly after industrialization had begun, until a centralized entity stepped in to break them up. TPTB will always act in their own best interests regardless of the situation, regardless of what it takes to ensure the continued prosperity of them and their family; having a desperate labor force is in their own best interests.
A little ways down the road from the late 1800s comes the roaring twenties. Look how that panned out. The rich didn't give a fuck, it took a whole new deal to get that shit straightened out.
Look at the plutonomy that's forming today, those people wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire (unless you're one of them). If you disagree take a sabbatical and work any job that doesn't require a bachelor's or higher (and live off only that). Unless you live in a country that really has their shit together that should drive the point home.
It comes down to a matter of liberty vs. rights and some rights, which wouldn't be enforced in a 100% free market, need to be enforced. Those pitchforks are important. My fear is that technology will give them an upper hand they didn't have in previous generations.