This topic required a lot of research and searching for extra information because it did not initially make sense to me. Burt Folsom's talk also helped a lot with my understanding of this topic, especially with the continental railroad example. It is super interesting to think about how the government giving subsidies would influence a company to cut corners and milk the project to get the most money out of the deal. Like with the continental railroad example where they were paid by the mile, so they made the railroad go through the most ridiculous patterns and trails. For instance, going over mountains or finding hills in the flattest of states.
It is really shocking, but at the same time not shocking at all that these political entrepreneurs do not care about the quality of their product, the natural growth of the economy, or even offering a solution or better quality of life to society. It all comes back to wanting money and creating the least expensive good or service to get government subsidies.
The long explained example he used about the steamboats in the beginning of his talk and the way America needed to be better than other countries in efficiency when it came to this industry sheds light on the way our market ideals are. Same with outsourcing the majority of our goods that are on the market from foreign manufacturers to ensure the lowest cost and charging an absurd amount of money just because they can. Where is the care, passion, and eagerness that entrepreneurs should have? It is not the money hungry business men getting government subsidies that are growing the economy and bettering our American society- if anything, they are doing the exact opposite by putting true entrepreneurs out of jobs because they cannot compete with government money.
