Governments get the same benefits that companies do from these things -- it's just that the government does the reinvesting in those cases while other companies might reinvest elsewhere (or in the not-to-distant past some of those very areas). It's the same principle behind companies backing open source. The companies themselves benefit from it, and so do others. And sometimes the initial contributions allow further contributions, like Walmart utilizing the transport networks to greatly improve the lives of the citizens and the tax base for the government.
The governments needing to pay for those basic things (while having a captive income stream) can't be the sole reason governments do so terribly at their duties. How do you explain the F-35 from the basis that governments gotta build roads? Why not look at process and management and incentives, which go a long way towards explaining why different companies do better than others?
The governments needing to pay for those basic things (while having a captive income stream) can't be the sole reason governments do so terribly at their duties. How do you explain the F-35 from the basis that governments gotta build roads? Why not look at process and management and incentives, which go a long way towards explaining why different companies do better than others?