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So by this logic, allowing people to breathe and use the bathroom is a government subsidy, since its a passive policy that doesn't charge you what you would hav

So by this logic, allowing people to breathe and use the bathroom is a government subsidy, since its a passive policy that doesn't charge you what you would have to pay everyone in the world to let you do it? And where did the "owners" who would have to be compensated get the land and materials that they now own? Wouldn't that also count as a subsidy (every material item was at some point pulled from the ground, even though I don't feel I've been compensated for these externalities).

munk-a 7y ago
I mean, being able to use bathrooms in government buildings as a non-employee is definitely a service that is being optionally provided to you by the government - and that service is being supported by funding to have those bathrooms serviced and cleaned more often then they otherwise would need to be.
mikeash 7y ago
If the government allowed your neighbors to use your property as their sewer without paying for the privilege, that would definitely be a subsidy for them. We make people clean up their sewage before dumping it. Breathing isn’t an issue only because it’s a negligible quantity. If it was more significant, we’d have to have rules around it just like we do for other human waste.