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Unrelated corporations are not natural allies. In fact they often compete.

This is true, but it’s much harder to compete against a free government service and that’s not the only option. For example, how much does Intuit’s advertising budget on X have to go up for it to be worth the effort of a few hours? (Repeat for xAI contracts or fleet Tesla purchases)

I don’t know if there is any quid pro quo but that’s why we have ethics laws because otherwise you have to constantly ask whether something is good for the country or just the guy making the decision.

Well the person making the decision can just decide to do what they think will make them most money on a stock trade too, it's like they built corruption into the system. So, they could sort Intuit/Quicken then announce gov will provide free software... make a killing on the short, then say 'only kidding'!

Yes, that’s why we have laws specifically banning insider trading and people in senior level positions are required to disclose their trading activities.

Competitors can have mutual interests.

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