It's a good question and a reasonable concern, but I think they would be out of business if they had to function on an open market.
The broader question of how unscrupulous private companies would be, given the opportunity, is hard to answer. Market discipline is stricter than political discipline, though, so I don't think they could get away with as much.
reply
Those are concentration camps in a totalitarian communist state.
What in the world does that have to do with free enterprise?
reply
reply
Don't be so hard on yourself
reply
Company scrip, slave labour, whistleblower assassinations.. all products of free enterprise.
reply
What are you talking about?
Slavery, by definition, cannot occur under free enterprise. Whistleblowers are almost always assassinated in connection to state activities. Company scrip is utterly trivial in comparison to fiat currencies.
reply