You could say the same for nuclear power. The utilities operate the steam plants and buy the fuel rods, but who provides the safety/regulation? The insurance subsidies? The fuel reprocessing? Actually, nobody does that, its too expensive, the spent fuel rods are all submerged in temporary storage ponds, slowly deteriorating.

In the 19th century, the railroads were built when JP Morgan took over the coordination and assignment of routes, eliminating all “destructive competition”, and with the government exercising eminent domain to purchase their rights-of-way. And of course, when the railroads finally took over, they were quickly replaced by the interstate highway system, supposedly made for national defense purposes, but it was actually a means of enriching the oil and auto industries. Not only passengers, but cargo used to go by rail. I remember what it was like to travel by car in the early 1950s, it was a pain in the butt; people took the trains, which were fast, safe and cheap. Nobody went by car unless they needed one when they got to their destination, and the roads were slow and dangerous. But after the Interstates were built, (at immense public expense) suddenly automobile travel became cheaper, safer and faster, and the railroads were allowed to deteriorate. Cargo shifted to trucks, direct from producer to retailer

We don’t have free enterprise in this country, we have a corporate welfare state. Free enterprise is for the working stiffs, like me and thee.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I have no problem with the government helping to promote new, vital industries by helping to build infrastructure (like ports, power stations or highways), or helping to finance or protect future technology (like space). But how those decisions are made should not be left to lobbyists and their in-the-pocket politicos, they should be open to public debate and political discussion. These decisions should be made by us, through our elected representatives, not the people who will profit from them.

America used to have wonderful public transportation, like Europe does today. Now its a pathetic joke. This did not happen because trains and streetcars and busses suddenly became obsolete, or too expensive, it happened because of policy deliberately shaped by the auto and oil companies. But who pays for the parking lots, the roads, the urban sprawl, the congestion and the pollution, the thousands of deaths and injuries every year? It sure as hell ain’t Exxon and GM. Its you and me.