| Businesses cannot exist without customers. To survive, a business must acquire and (usually) retain customers. This is complicated by competition. Competitors work to take away a business' existing or future customers. This forces most businesses to continually improve their relationship with their customers in order to fend off the competition. This may be in the form of lower prices, better quality, better services, or lots of other things. All of this works to the advantage of consumers. Improving a business takes time and effort, both of which translate to money. Most business owners can't take their operating profits for their own. Instead, they have to re-invest some of those profits in the business in order to remain competitive. This works to the advantage of consumers. Businesses are constantly working to the advantage of consumers, because that's the only way business owners will make money. Business has a love/hate relationship with regulation. Regulations are intended to benefit consumers and workers, but in one way they harm both consumers and workers. Complying with regulations costs money, and this is money that could otherwise have been invested by the business to be more competitive, i.e. aid the consumer. Whatever benefits fall to the consumer must be considered in relation to the harm done to consumers. It often happens that business owners think that customers would be better served if costly regulations did not exist. |