@ironman. I think you'll find that the British in general are quite proud and supportive of the NHS in Britain, I don't know about the Canadian system but the British system is hardly one to attack socialised healthcare on. Sure its not perfect - but it's pretty damned good all things considered.

Seriously?

Private corporations are answerable to individuals through people’s choice on how to spend their money ...

Let's look at corruption and fraud in the government:

Now, this is the FBI talking about corruption and fraud in the legal sense, and doesn't include things like improperly awarded contracts or programs of dubious value. Can you think of any private company that has (at least) 10% of their money lost to corruption or fraud?

Do you think that companies like FedEx can operate in competition against the government while providing a better service at a lower cost while turning a profit is because the federal government is so inefficient and corrupt?

Oh yeah, and Big Business is accountable.  I'm so glad that Nike was held accountable and their business was destroyed and their CEOs ostricized in shame for paying kids in Thailand 10 cents an hour to make shoes.

Oh wait...

As compared to directly voting for a politican?

If a politicans does something bad, his career is over.  If a CEO or a business does something bad, most people dont even associate their product with them.  Which is why boycotts (dont buy Japanese, dont buy EA) almost always fail.

I'm sorry, but the idea of the private market being more accountable than a democratic government is ridiculous.  Businesses are only held accountable to economics (pricing, supply and demand) and thats it.

Which is why Barney Frank and Chris Dodd's careers are over after allowing the mortgage crisis to continue to grow well past the point of stupidity, resulting in the largest government bailouts in history and the biggest recession in our lifetime; and the CEOs of the big banks and insurance companies all kept their jobs ... Oh wait, its really the other way around, how are politicians accountable?

I can list dozens of companies (Enron, Nortel, BreX, etc) which were held accountable by the judicial system and/or individuals because of their shady business practices, and there are dozens of companies that fail every day because the were held accountable by their consumers for their mismanagement and inability to meet their demands; with how blatantly partisan politics are in the United States, people vote primarily on partisan lines and politicians are rarely held accountable for their actions.

I'm surprised that anyone who saw George W. Bush's re-election could believe that politicians are held accountable for their actions ...

In what way is paying individuals wages they are happy to receive for work they are happy to do in order to provide other individuals a product at a cost they’re willing to pay a negative thing? By our standards, many people around the world make awful wages for the work they do but by their standards they’re paid very well and finally have the opportunity to support their families. It may be difficult to understand but all major industrialized countries went through a stage of "Exploitation" of labour in the early stages of economic development and as their economy grew workers receive better and better benefits from the system. Consider that 50 years ago the economies of Japan and South Korea would have been the sites of this "Exploitation" and 20 years ago China and India were in the same position; and I’m willing to bet that given the opportunity to "Exploit" people in countries like Thailand will result in a country with very modern living conditions and more reasonable wages 50 years from now.

Now, if you want to look at accountability, without government interference GM, Chrysler, AIG, Lehman Brothers, City Bank, and countless other companies were about to get their just desserts for their poor management and corrupt ways; and the only reason they were saved was because they were too important for the political elite. How was the system not working, and are you going to hold the politicians accountable for their protection of these corrupt and incompetent companies?

1. The judicial system is the government, so thats the government being accountable.

2. Like I said, businesses are held accountable by economics.  CEOs and businesses are not held accountable for their social and political actions.

3. I trust George W. Bush over any CEO any day of the week.  President Bush answered to the people and gave them what they want, CEOs answer to no one except for their investors who are only concerned with profit.  Which gets me to your point that corrupt politicians are still in office, they still need a majority of their electorate to put them in office so they were held accountable and for whatever reason the population didnt think it was a problem or didnt care.  I didnt like George Bush, but most people did so he remained in office.