Yea, well, sometimes that's actually true. :-). Good analogy. An abusive relationship which is verbal but not violent may very well be preferable to ending the relationship and winding up on the dole.

Look, I like a good utopian dream as much as the next guy; who wouldn't want to live on Walden Pond?

But the history of man shows that he/she is, for the most part, self-centered, selfish, competitive, and in many ways sociopathic in matters economic. The trick is to channel that selfish nature in the economy so it benefits everyone. That's why we tax and why we regulate, and why capitalism will always have some warts on it. But it does channel that business competitiveness and turn it into wealth, which is then up to the government to spread around in the wisest way possible.

I highly doubt you'd be able to architect a better system that wouldn't end up rife with abuses, simply because the nature of so many would be to abuse it for their own benefit.