Does government not act within self interest? The self interest of the company is to provide the information that people want. The self interest of the government is to provide the information that keep the citizens voting for who controls the politicians. And who controls the politicians is a profitable game for big corporations.
I understand companies act within their own self interest. But the problem is when we provide government with enormous power it becomes within the self interest of companies to influence government rather than provide value to society.
> self interest of the government is to provide the information that keep the citizens voting for who controls the politicians
Now expand your model to one where the government, politicans and citizens aren't monoliths.
> who controls the politicians is a profitable game for big corporations
It's a pertinent game for everyone. That's the point of democracy. It's still a profitable game in a dictatorship. It's just that while democracy gives a peanut-gallery seat to even the most disinterested citizen, autocracies hoard those seats for the deserving.
How do you end up in a position where governments aren't monoliths? You decentralize the power. Adding more and more state control concentrates power into the monoliths.
> You decentralize the power. Adding more and more state control concentrates power into the monoliths
“State control” isn’t a monolithic lever. You can have a theoretically powerful but weak state if power is properly shattered. This is the lost art of designing democracies. (Not just throwing elections at every problem.)
This is the current situation in the United States. The problem with this is that when you have shattered/distributed state power, they work to achieve opposing objectives. On one hand we have massive subsidies provided to the fossil fuel industry while at the same time spending millions on research in renewable energy. Recently we had huge subsidies to growing tobacco while also funding programs to stop people from smoking. This is ineffective and inefficient use of money. Now, this would happen with private companies as well, but the difference is that private companies have no means to force individuals to pay for their costs the way state government does. The state can threaten you by means of force or jail to pay for both of these conflicting endeavors through taxation. Whereas you only give money to private enterprises voluntarily, where you find value in their goods or services.
I understand companies act within their own self interest. But the problem is when we provide government with enormous power it becomes within the self interest of companies to influence government rather than provide value to society.