Plus that just isn't how governments work. Governments work by imposing costs on others. They do not build.

What does it has to do with the topic? And saying “governments do not build” is a crazy antihistorical take: many things, from the space industry to the telco one were built by governments, as well as the energy and transport sectors in many countries.

For the past 50-ish years the West convinced itself that government should not build, and as a result we're suffering from a slow collapse of basic infrastructures. Meanwhile, in China and the Gulf, government kept building and the world's center of gravity steadily keeps moving eastwards.

"What have the Romans ever done for us?"