look, I can hold more than one thought or opinion in my mind at one time - life is not 'all or nothing', and neither is the government. I didn't like Dick Cheney's closed door hearings on national energy policy (gee, that worked out well, huh: http://www.sierraclub.org/environmentallaw/lawsui.... I don't like the Obama Administration's closed door hearings. and yet, I bet they're going to continue, with every administration. sometimes for nefarious reasons. sometimes because all the facts need to be understood and shared with the nation afterwards.
If we don't understand what's happening, then, as citizens, we have a responsibility to find out on our own. It's not as if the mainstream media can be trusted to do its part consistently. It's a PITA, but there it is. Our fourth estate is largely 24/7 stale bread and low rent circuses, and so it's up to us to make government trustworthy.
but I digress, kinda.
and about spending 'our' money wisely. Yup, I trust the government more, because ultimately, the government is us. Because I have a say in what the government does. If I don't vote, and I don't write letters and I don't participate (which I didn't do, for many years), and I don't support candidates who share my concerns, then of course, I don't trust the government, because, conveniently, I don't take responsibility for what it does, even though I have the opportunity to do so (which, in my case, a whole lot of my ancestors died for, so I take it more and more seriously as I get older. your mileage may perhaps vary).

Businesses do not give me a vote unless I am a shareholder. I don't own any stock at all, although I support a few businesses with my money. I trust business to find ways to make money, and that's it - it doesn't matter to the business who gets hurt in the process; it doesn't matter to the business if my civil rights are violated, it doesn't matter if my environment/livelihood is destroyed. our American system has given business permission to do just about anything, and as is abundantly evident, they do and will.
On the other hand, I try to run my tiny business in a way that refutes that. I buy products and services that I like from businesses whose leadership seems to give a damn about the society they operate in. but I know that I don't have a direct way to influence them if they don't give a damn, except to send in my government to make them do so.

and if I do my job as a citizen, I'll have a government that I can trust to do just that.

wow. I'm not sure I'd sound as snarky as Robert (hey Robert;-), but I have to agree with him. I've lived in Tokyo for the past 13 years as a regular independent businessperson, not an 'erai' (celebrity businessperson), and it is not a joke how tough it is to be successful on your own here. Unless your overseas HQ or venture company has patient deep pockets, I would take the time to live & work here for a couple of years and build an organic following for whatever you want to sell. Or work with someone who has.

just a side comment: the nation is full of entrepreneurs, actually, but they don't seem to think of themselves that way, in a Western sense. The fear of risk seems to be a huge factor in taking up just about new product or service (or person).

Having said that, it is nice to have my adopted country considered for something other than the prime minister kaitenzushi!

yeah, and how about the Civil Rights Act? granted it took people powered movement to make it happen, but the government to make it stick.

I think that's not only important 'government work' - I wouldn't trust a business to regulate itself.

Thank you, Danny. It amazes me that anyone still insists that there's a free market in the first place, when it's easy to see that instead of a world of rational supply and demand (a narrow-minded idea to begin with since humans don't consistently operate that way), instead, corporations are pulling strings, cutting corners, and influencing the world in ways that individuals cannot even hope to balance, never mind compete with.
As a result, we have a huge & growing gap between the extremely rich and everyone else. And of course, people who hope to be extremely rich support things staying just the way they are. Why change? The system works fine for me and mine - screw everybody else! Government=bad. Business=good, they say, with complete certainty, without question.
And the people who are suffering from an economic system they have little control over get angrier, more desperate, or give up. But what does it matter to the captains of whatever industry - or the wannabes? The poor, the working class, and the middle class: as far as the libertarian is concerned, those fools lost the game, and so can simply be discarded. Why should government even try to alleviate some of the suffering that unenlightened businesspeople create?

I'm furious that so many people in an industry I am a tiny part of, but truly enjoy, seem to think this way.

yup, isn't it delicious? I feel like I'm living vicariously in a Monty Python sketch when I use it:-)