Utility is not maximized and profit is not minimized. And this is the central issue. Actually corporations ought to completely hate the idea of a free market, because the better and more efficiently it operates, the narrower their profit becomes. A perfect market operates with zero profit. A great number of people are turned off by such arguments.
Conspiracy theories are the province of streetcorner lunatics.
The article is long for a net posting, but normal for a magazine article, which it is. I will expand a bit on my discussion of the free market. These are inadequately reported by the media, and hence don't enter the public debate. These incontrovertably exist, and they reveal intentions that are contrary to the public rhetoric of government and corporate spokespeople. I guess it's a matter of definition.