The key question is: Instead of what? When the govt spends money on something, it is asking/telling people to spend their effort on that task/product, instead

The key question is: Instead of what? When the govt spends money on something, it is asking/telling people to spend their effort on that task/product, instead of something else that they would/could have been doing instead. So if the govt spends $80k of people's effort on the rural line, what doesn't get done as a result?