That's an example of how public sector infrastructure can crowd out or prevent or serve as a barrier to entry for private sector investment. You see the same thing in schools. Private schools have to compete with a public school that offers services at a price equal to zero, whereas the customers of the private school have to pay to have their children go there. So it's very, very difficult for the private sector to make inroads in those industries when there's existing public infrastructure, if you will, that is being maintained and effectively serving as a barrier to entry. Another example is roads.
Roads are a great example.
Certainly there's a role for the public sector to build and maintain roads, for example, in cities, where there's much traffic and it can be difficult to set up tolls. There's no reason in the world why a private firm couldn't build and maintain a road. And that would serve as a discipline to make sure we build roads where people really want them, as opposed to building roads where key legislators have their districts. Well in fact, they weren't being stupid, they were responding to political pressures, and every legislator knows that a road going through their particular district creates jobs and brings money into the district, and oftentimes the economic benefits get attributed to the legislator. So there's a reason why those roads go to nowhere, but it's not the kind of reason that makes us all feel good about the way the process works.