It sorta depends on the government.

In a democracy, like America, it prevents the government from controlling certain businesses and, well, running into its' citizen's life. The down side of that is that individuals do become rich.

In a more socialist country like say China, some businesses like maybe telecomm, banking, would be ran by the government, and the income or profits or w/e would be given to the government to be put into social programs, that is if the government plans on to. The downside of that is that the government has a bigger hand in your life.


That's how I see it at least. I'm not economist, yet.