I agree, real and workable models do exist. The problem stems from regulatory capture, unbalanced leverage, and long-term unaccountability of the "higher ups", in my opinion.
The social contract is so broken that I'm not surprised that piracy is rampant. I justify it (and I make games). It has all become a matter of leverage, I truly believe that if some companies (or people) could point a gun to our heads they would, and it shows in the way they operate.
And no, it's not always "it's just profit", sometimes it's a shortsighted chase of the next stock value high with complete disregard for the future since lack of accountability is pretty much built-in into the higher classes of managers
Just by taking a look at EU politicians getting into russian companies (such as Gazprom) after their mandate should tell you a couple of things. Ever wondered how some countries became so dependent on russia?
>Russian corruption doesn't generally touch Western governments
No offense but the fact that someone on HN could get to this conclusion is rather shocking to me. Western Europe has plenty of russian corruption and I'm afraid the ongoing war has unearthed only a fraction of it.