One of the problems with libertarians is that they make meaningless distinctions; in this case, the distinction between government and large corporations (you mention McDonald’s but a couple of score others can be included) and banks.
As someone who has watched this economic debacle unfold, one thing is crystal clear to me: to the extent that government can be blamed for anything it is for the FACT that it has become the tool of powerful private interests. The revolving door between government and the private sector, the way they move from one to the other, is so obvious to me, that saying we live in a plutocracy is stating the obvious.
A) I’m not a libertarian
B) You really don’t see a meaningful distinction between government and private enterprise?
One is funded by tax dollars, so we, as voters, get to determine the best way to use our money. The other is a private enterprise, so we, as consumers, get to determine the best use of our money.
If a smaller, local business does a better job and cares more, than we can choose to patronize that business, rather than the large, bureaucratic company. We can, and do, regulate businesses where reasonable (sometimes, we go a little overboard). Outside of those reasonable regulatory measures, we let them run their business, as we should.
When it comes to government ventures, we the people get to decide what is best. Do you think that a bloated, federal bureaucracy best serves the people? I don’t. I think the state level is the highest we should go for items outside of the pervue of the Constitution. In many cases, the municipality is the best place - for example: police and fire.
Why is it important to liberals that social welfare be provided at the federal level?