As if there aren't back room deals among "competitors" too. Price fixing is a problem in many industries.

That's true. But I think the only real regulation we need from the government is anti-monopoly regulation.

What other country's military do you think is better than the US?

No other single military I have seen is better than ours (though I am biased), but there are definitely somethings other militaries do better.

French Special Forces are among the best in the world, the Brits and Canadians have a lot of perks (quality of life & beer) on their ships that we do not have, The israelis have a lot of excellent training and equipment... Overall we are the best because of the volunteer nature of our military, and the ingenuity of our troops. But when compared pound-for-pound with private militaries (e.g.: Blackwater) the government run military pales.

You probably know more about Blackwater than I do. What I see are a bunch of cowboys hanging out of helicopters at 200 feet and making themselves targets.

They are highly trained. Many of them do let their discipline slide, which is why I can't stand mercenaries, but they get paid better than us, they have better benefits, and far superior equipment...

OK, so making yourself target by hanging out of a helicopter indicates highly trained? We have a bunch of Aussies and Kiwis who protect us. They use less conspicuous measures. I went to Falcon a few days ago in an armored BMW. They look like regular cars and blend in better.

A lot of Marxists will fall into the trap of first attacking your conclusion, but I will instead argue the validity of your premises. The insinuation is that there existed socialist and communist countries in the first place, when there really hasn't. Some got close to socialism (Cuba, Paris commune, etc.), but none really fit the definitions. I think the argument is largely moot because it's really arguing capitalism vs. state capitalism, and I agree that capitalists are better at their own game than bureaucrats.

The second assumption is that America's performance is single-handedly due to the virtues of its system. I would say this is false. A lot of factors go into America's success, and the primary ones include its historical slavery, its victories in two world wars (remaining largely untouched at home), and the retaining of the union in the civil war. The reason why I say this is because there exists many countries that followed the same capitalistic patterns of the United States only to meet in failure. Capitalism isn't some kind of magic formula applicable for anyone, but it's merely a means by which a select group of society can exploit the rest.

I think the Marxist arguments that would challenge your conclusions also have some validity. It all depends on your measure performance. Some people value the welfare of an entire society, while others value doctors driving around in Ferraris while 18,000 Americans die each year because they don't have health insurance. You be the judge.

It is also ignorant of the fact that so-called socialist and communist countries were third-world to begin with; it's a dishonest tactic, because I can point out third-world capitalist dictatorships. The fact that the Soviet Union brought Russians out of third-world feudalism into world power status within a matter of a few decades should not be simply ignored. And as soon as the Soviet Union collapsed and adopted capitalism, so did the former Soviet states fall into an even worse poverty than before. And incidentally, the US dollar and economy isn't looking so good when compared to the 'social democracies' in Europe.

And hence the severe limitations of privatizing war. The anarchy of the free market leaves an absence of respectable limitations. I'd rather trade soldiers getting paid 100 grand a year and heavily armored high-tech black SUV's for soldiers not going around massacring civilians. Incidentally, much of the torture conducted at Gitmo was by and under the supervision of contractors.

Likewise I'd rather have everyone covered in a national health plan than hospitals throwing poor people out on the street and insurance companies denying coverage just so they can afford their record-breaking profits and 250k doctor salaries.

Because a BMW is a regular car in Iraq?