The Internet. Government served only to set some basic standards and fund initial military & research networking. Factory farming. Food costs have been driven

The Internet. Government served only to set some basic standards and fund initial military & research networking. Factory farming. Food costs have been driven down tremendously, and productivity increased hugely, by private farming. Heck, Y Combinator. Smaller scale, but it sure isn't public money that's going into funding these startups which make a big difference. That the government simply established standards amid otherwise competing options is a proper role (nice that we're all agreed to drive on the same side of the street). Government is also sometimes useful to force concentration of funds into something that needs development but has prohibitive startup costs. But there are certainly plenty of vast proliferations of spending which occur absent of, or even contrary to, government involvement. Don't confuse the presence of free money (say, farm subsidies) with the successes; anyone will accept a large enough check. Don't overlook the destructiveness (say, many wars, or the "Cash for Clunkers" disaster that destroyed the used car market, or the multi-billion-dollar "bailouts" that lost vast sums of cash, or the 100M dead from government conquest spending including the Chinese Great Leap Forward). Yes, there are some successes. Let's talk about private successes, which DO exist. Let's talk about public-funded failures, which DO exist. Yes, large-scale government spending not pure evil incarnate, but it sure isn't the benevolent deity which many are increasingly making it out as.