Originally Posted by loquitur

Well, the competitive principle doesn't always prevail and doesn't always yield optimal results - that was the main insight of John Forbes Nash and the central premise of game theory. But the basic idea that competition will usually, through the invisible hand, provide greater material good at lower cost has been proven true over and over again - subject to what I said earlier about everyone signing on to the rule of law, property rights, peaceful dispute resolution and minimum levels of trust in institutions (including but not necessarily governmental institutions - also banks, utilities, etc).