One thing I find ironic about the media and particularly the business news is the belief that we have a free market economy. Its both a myth and an outright lie that they happen to believe in. As exemplified in the airline bailout after 9/11. If you take the public costs for corporate operations in the United States, the total is approx. 3 trillion dollars a year. While total profit was only about 1 trillion per year, (1995 dollars). That's a net loss of 2 trillion dollars per year. So why isn't Corporate America bankrupt, we a stuck with the bill. The costs are mainly invisible, but if you look then you can see the tangible costs in your communities and paychecks. Everything from Wal*Marts moving in next door and lowering property values, to the costs involved in outsourcing jobs by losing salaries and benefits of employees. The figures at this website are from 1995, I'm sure the costs are much greater today.
(Source:
http://www.stakeholderalliance.org/corpcost.html)