CEOs work harder every hour than their wage slaves do every season.

[TaraJo]

The absolute best we could ever hope for in this situation would be to blindly and dumbly hope that every corporation would agree, against their own benefit, to operate ethically,

Unfortunately, that ain't gonna happen. Survival of the fittest even applies to corporations. The companies that are ethical would be instantly squashed by the unethical companies.

But, as long as we're applyin the rules of evolution to companies like that, let's take a look at the governments role in this. See, survival of the fittest says that the organism (or company) that is best suited to its environment will survive. What the government can do is change the environment so that the ethical companies are more suited to survival. Set strict rules they have to follow, enforce those rules and when they're broken, give them harsh enough penalties to prevent future rule breaking. Laizze-faire capitalism has created an environment where corrupt companies are more suited to survival.