Why are you pretending that utilities exist in a "free market" in any way?

> SpaceX is a trillion dollar company with 0 profit.

And it got there in part through the evisceration of NASA.

> The free market has created everything you use the more we turn the keys over to government's the worse things get.

Government funds research that has brought us such advances as moon landings, computers, and the internet. What an odd example you chose in SpaceX

> The free market has created everything you use the more we turn the keys over to government's the worse things get.

This might be your personal ideological creed, but it is not a self-evident axiom you can just assert with zero backing.

> Companies can't get infinite profits because they will be undercut by other companies COMPETING

Then why haven't they?

> The government can get infinite power and control though.. they have no competition.

Are you aware other countries with their own governments exist?

> So what is the government's sole purpose?

To establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty.

> Also this is not the sole purpose of companies.

Friedman disagrees.

> The free market has created everything you use the more we turn the keys over to government's the worse things get.

Which is why we have never needed government regulation of things like food, air, water, shelter, work safety, accessibility, or anything else. The free market provides.

> The government can get infinite power and control though

Which is why in a free society the government is answerable to the people.

Your argument still applies to capitalists except we don't even get the fig leaf of a vote, so what's your point?

They have so much accountability. Everything is in public for inspection, they're subject to elections happening whether they like it or not, they have to follow strict laws and can be sued or even imprisoned, there's oversights and review boards. Depending on the position there's even television cameras broadcasting their work live. You can just walk in and sit down on them. In the federal government everything you do becomes public property and enters the public domain immediately upon creation. There's way more accountability...

In practice what the "small government" ideology actually does is get rid of these accountability mechanisms and put scammers and corrupt people in charge instead or relabels corruption as the policy through public-private partnerships.

In many places I can see every single government employee's salary, down to the janitor. Which public company has the same level of transparency?

Yes, a government has never wasted tax money by giving a contract to a private company before.

Those companies that win big pork filled contracts would never have any incentive to get the company to waste tax dollars.

Adding the profit motive in here definitely helps prevent waste

It's a lot easier for me to vote for someone with better policies than it is for me to get the CEO of a utility company fired.

What are you talking about? I can vote out my government leaders in a democracy. I can't vote out Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk that run their organizations autocratically.