You may only be able to evaluate the effectiveness of investment by the measure of profit, you are pretty much alone in this lack of analytical prowess. You can’t seem to see, for example, how the private investors in the tobacco industry made what in their calculations were great and successful investments that at the same time gravely harmed the general welfare. The basic difference between the public and private spheres is that the private sector exists to serve private profit and the public sector exists to serve the general welfare. Both are necessary, neither can stand alone. The private sector would never be able to raise the necessary capital to create a free market, nor to organize that capital into the construction and maintenance into the necessary infrastructure. That’s not their job, nor their interest. We who create businesses have our hands full running those businesses, competing with each other. It’s almost like you never built a business, met a payroll, had any experience with creating free enterprise or interacting with government in the pursuit of profit.