> Every company's priority has always been "make more money above all,"

Maybe that's true where you live, but it's definitely not true all over the world, many economies have a free economy yet companies exist for public benefit, not shareholder value generation. It's out there, wouldn't be impossible to implement where you live either.

> And don't think for a second the US federal government couldn't do a huge amount of damage to anyone it feels like by way of its financial regulators

Right, I agree. But I also qualified my statement to not be valid in authoritarian countries, so maybe not the greatest example to use.

> many economies have a free economy yet companies exist for public benefit,

I really don't believe you, honestly, unless you're talking only about little mom and pop shops. and what other country would have more regulatory influence on Apple than the US?

A bit like OpenAI (non-profit) or Anthropic (public-benefit-corporation). Based on their business model it is clear that profitability is not their goal, and in their own statements: greater good for the humanity