I don’t know why private industry should object to government involvement in megaprojects. Eventually, and inevitably, taxpayers get hosed, while the world’s wealthiest citizens grow even wealthier. Governments spend billions acquiring, building, and improving assets. Then the privatizers gain power and sell completed, publicly financed assets to private interests. The public shoulders the risks; private investors inherit the opportunities.

Thanks Skylab: Not that I’d ever have envisioned a time when I’d be ‘recommending’ anybody pay more than a New…