Ok, a more charitative reading of the parent: it is (badly) referring to the idea that public services are not a bad idea just because they operate at a loss, d

Ok, a more charitative reading of the parent: it is (badly) referring to the idea that public services are not a bad idea just because they operate at a loss, due to their positive externalities. E.g. a road is a “bad investment” if you only look at direct profit (which is 0 if you dont set up a toll). Obviously they do provide value and that value can often be defined as indirect monetary return. There’s also value for the country that is not easy to monetize in money terms, such as more education helping voters be less manipulable.