"""
Do you think about "free enterprise" and "multi-nationals" in the same thought bubble?
"""

You'd have to be pretty foolish to do so imho.

The too big to fail and now too big to jail. How's that fair?

"""
But could we have international trade without them.
"""

Why not? People all over the world exchange goods and services world wide everyday without the use of a Multi-National. It's been happening for ever. Multi-Nationals in collusion with government just place themselves in the middle of a transaction to extract a portion they're not entitled to.
Things like Bitcoin show you they're not necessary. And soon you will see an attack on this new form of currency (In fact it's already started), simply because it excludes both of them!
Crowd funding and open source are other schemes the Multi-Nationals are not too happy about.

The Internet is certainly changing the status quo back to the little guy just as the printing press did all those years ago.
I wonder why pollies all over the world are trying to control what gets published and where?

The days of the Multi-Nationals are numbered in my view. Those young, angry, kids will see to it, don't you worry about that. This is their world now and you old fools aren't welcome.

See the fear of change in their words. Words they conjure out of thin air, as fake as the money they trade in. Shows a total lack of understanding of what's happening in the world right now!

"""
I almost bust a gut laughing. Your knitting circle is going to change the world with a strongly worded letter?
"""

A tip for you, Shadow Minister. Perhaps if you step out of the shadows into the light, you might see some truths?
They've already changed the world and are forging ahead more and more everyday!
All the ridicule you can muster is just a puppet show to them. A modern day Punch and Judy. They just laugh and keep forging :~)

"...going to change the world with a strongly worded letter?"

That would be silly and doomed to failure, Shadow Minister, if for no other reason than what I labelled as 'focus' is, more accurately, a voluntary patients' therapy group and we're not allowed sharp objects, like pens.

So we decided on starting the resistance campaign by looking decidedly pouty each and every time we shopped.

those with no real competitors such as Apple and Google.
Shadow Minister,
I use Apple computers & if that is anything to go by their lack of competition is good for the us judging by the quality of their product. On the other hand it is not of any comfort to me knowing that my Macs are made in China where the worst pollution occurs.
Apple too has people in its ranks like we have in Australia or anywhere for that matter who try to get as much as possible for as little as possible. Imagine just for a moment how much could be produced in Australia if the wages hadn't been pushed beyond sustainable levels. Imagine how much a Holden would cost if there weren't so many hangers on snouts in the proverbial trough. We are extremely hasty in pointing the finger but we don't point it in the right direction. You can still point away from yourself as long as you're pointing at a mirror.
On another thread curbing consumerism was brought up, now there's an example of what Multi-Nationals are all about. No demand-no product on the shelves.
Stop supporting them by curbing your (not you personally SM) own excesses & you'll curb the Multi nationals.

The multinationals do offer many useful resources
to the less developed countries. They encourage
economic growth by importing the necessary capital
and technology, and they create new industries and
markets all over the world. But their motives are
purely selfish - to exploit cheap labour and resources
on an international scale for the benefit of a handful
of stockholders in wealthy countries.

They are also
able to shift assets and operations around the world -
recording losses in high-tax nations and profits in
low-tax nations, or evading safety regulations or
labour laws in one country by moving to another that
lacks them.

These huge organisations have developed much more
quickly than have the means of applying social control over
them.

I wonder how many multinational corporations
could really pass the test of scrutiny
for illicit corporate activity? How many would be guilty of
interference in the affairs of their host countries,
with activities ranging from bribery of local officials
to attempts to overthrow foreign governments.

When organisations are solely dedicated to the pursuit of
profit and are subject to the authority of no one nation,
and are run by a tiny elite of managers and directors who
have a largely fictional responsibility to their far-flung
shareholders, they do represent a disturbing concentration of
global power and influence.

Lexi,
Spot - on !