That works out ok as long as they are one of a large numbers of producers, competing equally, without monopoly power or excessive physical power, for a large nu

That works out ok as long as they are one of a large numbers of producers, competing equally, without monopoly power or excessive physical power, for a large number of consumers free to Ursula their own best interest; a certain amount of information symmetry is also a necessary axiom. If instead you have a small number of monopolies with legislative capture, then you need them to be virtuous.