[4] Set in the then-future year of 1962,[3] Shaw wrote The Apple Cart in a period of Conservative government in Britain, before the Welfare State reforms that followed World War II.
[5] In his Preface to the play, Shaw referred to "Breakages, Limited" in the context of "the mischief done by our system of private Capitalism in setting up huge vested interests in destruction, waste, and disease."
[8] Shaw depicted Breakages as representing "plutocracy," which subordinates democratic government to its power, to the extent that even socialist politicians "no longer dare even to talk of nationalizing any industry" which can return a profit for the "plutocrats" or attract subsidies for them.
[12][13] The account in the Preface of the fate of Gattie's invention fails to convincingly "demonstrate the power of corrupt plutocracy over industry and politics," as the culprits appear to have been rather "organized labour and unimaginative officialdom.
"[16] Mary Lou and Archie, in Robert A. Heinlein's short story Let There Be Light, debate the validity of the picture symbolised by "Breakages Ltd." of planned obsolescence and corporate resistance to innovation.