It’s about business and government

I’ve been out of town for several days, and could not join in the apparent general uprising of political angst. 
(Lest Trump-like accusations and other common misrepresentations undermine our civil discussion, we should agree to avoid using pejoratives such as “deplorables” and “communism,” since neither term accurately describes anything we wish to discuss.) 
It appears that national economics and governance are the main interest of our group.
There is another related subject we could consider at the same time: “The Biology of Us and Them.” 
In the current (March or April) issue of Foreign Affairs there’s an article titled, “This is your brain on Nationalism.” It may give us more than a little food for thought, and explain some of our irrational behaviors.
The goals of most companies are to be profitable and grow larger. Some have achieved or surpassed those goals. A few have grown to near monopoly size. That’s a mixed blessing at best. 
Control of the market may increase profitability, and drive competitors out of business. There’s a downside to this - it whets the appetite for more! 
Often that leads to questionable or reprehensible, if not downright illegal behavior. And worse, it tends to reset the subject to an immoral competition for defrauding we citizens by using the government. 
Take note: our enormous national debt by and large represents the amount that crooked politicians have stolen from us. 
This will end. We can decide how, or accept whatever fate hands out to us.
—Jerry Baird