I think the problem, at least in the U.S.. is that we don't really know who owns what. The same person or people could own "competing" businesses and get around the monopoly laws. Then there are the lobbyists. Laws are only as powerful as they are enforced. For a new entrepeneur, it is like entering a game of Monopoly that is already underway, and all the good properties are already owned and the only thing left is Baltic Avenue. You are right. The owners of the big businesses don't feel they owe the country that defends them anything, and it shows.