if you take a course in economics 101 nowadays, it's probably going to be new keynesian economic theory, and they will actually teach you that a basic deduction of contemporary market theory is that competition is stupid.

we have this social tendency to lean towards competitive behaviour as some kind of ideal.

but, a rational economic actor will avoid competition at all costs. really. it will pay fines, it will escape markets - anything to avoid a competition. and, the reason is that competition is devastating to everybody that engages in it, it can completely destroy you.

any economist would tell you that the fact that these politicians are out there trumpeting the benefits of competition is just proof of how utterly idiotic and mentally deranged they all are. it's beyond irrational, it's child-like.