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To: Maurice Winn who wrote (39187)	10/5/2003 6:01:43 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

A government toll bridge built with borrowed money produces profit. The operative word is "borrowed" money... The toll that is collected doesn't normally go directly to the governmental bottom line, but rather through a quasi governmental public entity, which pays the overhead, then the investors, then remaining proceeds MAY go into the general till.. The government doesn't have to be involved in building toll roads. Any private company can collect the capital required to do so. But since government, via its regulatory and administrative structure, provides the mechanism for resolving this public good. And government provides this service because none of us would care to stop every 10-20 miles to feed a tollbooth. Hawk

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (39187)	10/5/2003 9:51:25 PM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

But governments not only DON'T produce profits. They get on the way of profits: They produce red tape. India, LATAM, former communist countries, Western Europe They protect friends of those in power -Halliburton and Bechtel the energy and defense industry in the case of the Bush administration are cases in point- to the detriment of the economy as a whole They allow cartels to proliferate to the detriment of the economy IATA is such a government sanctioned cartel. All the world. They reward supporters to the detriment of the economy as a whole: Angora goat farmers in a state where the senator vote against impeaching Clinton. Orange growers in Florida and steel mills elsewhere. USA They work out the ignorant crowds for their own devious means, such as milking 911 to death and creating WMD (Weapons of Mass Deception) to invade Iraq. USA They create and nurture state-owned enterprises to extract rent such as oil, energy, telecoms. LATAM, SEA. They engineer animosity in between countries to divert resources to arms programs: North Korea, Iran, India and Paksitan. Last but not the least, they do a miserable job at making lousy economic policy. All the world. In retrospect: Government should provide a legal framework and enforce it. Defend the country and get the hell out of the way.