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[quote user="henry6"][quote user="tstage"] Crandell,It sounds to me that what happened with the CPR is similar to what happened with the US Transcontinental Railroad back in the 1860s.  Corruption and greed were at the real heart of the operation.And, after the railroad was completed, they had to go back and rebuild it again because of shoddy workmanship. Tom [/quote] HMMMMMMM....And that was private enterprise.  With the help of government initiatives, of course.  To read some of the above posts 1). government didn't really get involved until much later in our history, and 2). private enterprise will always do it better and do it right!  And if I remember my history correctly there was a lot of boondogling and other financial shenagans going on in the venture, too. But I am being told today that government was the boondoggler and big business was Mr. Clean.  HMMMMMM...something just isn't adding up![/quote]I would not say that everything done by government is a boondoggle and everything done by the private sector is successful.  But there is a fundamental difference between the business economics of the two sectors.  Garr makes the point that when private business fails it loses its money and when the government fails, it loses the public's money.  That is an important part of the fundamental difference, and I would add that another part of the difference between government and the private sector is that the government operates without financial risk precisely because it does use someone else's money.  Whereas the financial risk that is inherent in the private sector using its own money makes it more careful to avoid risk.  The private sector has an incentive to work harder and be more prudent because it is risking its own money.And beyond that, a major difference between the economics of the two sectors is that government always wants to get bigger, and it does so simply by spending money.  So when the government builds a bridge, even if the bridge falls down, or is not needed, or costs ten times more than it should have, the government will still have succeeded in expanding its power and scope simply by spending the money.  So in regard to this primary motive of enlarging government, and feathering its own nest, the bridge is really beside the point.  Also beside the point is whatever this trillion-dollar bailout is supposed to fix.  First and foremost, the money will grow the government, and a bigger government is liable to come back and tell us that a trillion was not enough.
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