>>Nope. I've never been a victim, but that doesn't change my belief that large companies are generally predatory, and do not necessarily have the best interests of their customers or their respective countries economies at heart. They pretty much care about one thing - their own greed, and if governments can't put a rein on that greed... well, nobody else can, and those who are not part of that greed continuum are fated for an uncomfortable future.
>
>But the point is that in the market system you act in your own best interests. This makes behavior predictable. An intelligent capitalist knows his first obligation is to his investors and employees. You are assuming sociopathic behavior is in the best interests of the company - I am claiming exactly the opposite.

That's only under the unproven assumption that they're _always_ following their long term economic interest and acting rationally to advance it.

Under the dictate of Walmart Street, they don't dare give a damn about anything that stretches too far beyond the next fiscal quarter. If the results don't get approved by the gamblers on the stock market, the CEO may just see the wrong side of the door, even if he achieved a nice 15% profit - because the street predicted it must be at least 19% and had bet on it.

And then, quite often, they don't really always act on purely rational terms - there's macho posturing, there's bad blood between the members of the board, there are ego trips, building empires etc etc. They're just people, and the 1st (and only) axiom of social sciences says "people will behave". Doesn't say how, though.

>Look at public education. It didn't happen because social reformers thought it would be nice if people could read it happened because captalists perceived a literate workforce as being good for the bottom line. Political demagogues would have preferred illiterate mobs that could be manipulated by the elite.

They still do. That's the main reason why the public schools are producing semiliterates. I was truly shocked when I heard there's a spelling bee competition for high school seniors. After twelve years of school it's still not assumed that everyone can spell, so you need a competition to give them some incentive?

> Good universal health care does not have to be argued strictly on theoretical or charitable grounds. It is good for everybody.

And it's delivering more for less money, as just pretty much the whole rest of the world knows.