I fully agree with your comment on the level of cronyism in oz, and the issues created by it in terms of stalling and stifling otherwise progressive business cu

I fully agree with your comment on the level of cronyism in oz, and the issues created by it in terms of stalling and stifling otherwise progressive business culture.. through the lure of grants or the entrenched power of the status quo. However australia is not an especially high taxing country by any means. And though a lot of government spending all over the country reeks of cronyism (mining infrastructure, road projects, desal plants etc etc), fed grants and research spending have been incredibly useful over the years. The main issue here is funding after the fact. Lest you fall into the same fallacy you rightly pointed out, gov can and has picked winners, and has been responsible for much innovation, through funding or research, or just by raising living standards. Big business comes with the same issues of cronyism and bureaucracy.