“Can you imagine someone like Disney doing this? [Not planning long-term, and acting economically irrationally] Of course not.”

Disney actually did do this. My wife, who used to work at Disney World, reflects on the shameful Eisner-era, which is recently over. The parks fell into a noticeable disrepair on Eisner’s watch (who assumed CEO after Frank Wells’ untimely death) while he pursued purchase and expansion of such non-core businesses as Capital Cities/ABC Broadcasting (including ESPN).

Meanwhile, Disney’s core competencies, such as the parks and movie animation, went largely neglected. Pixar, Steve Jobs’ digital animation outfit, just recently agreed to a merger, which should have occurred earlier, with Disney. It was delayed because of Eisner. When he left, it happened.

But that’s another critical distinction between public and private enterprise – private (or publicly shareowned) enterprises have the ability, and indeed, obligation to “right the ship” when it starts listing. Government and public entities have no such ability, and continue to expand into areas they were never designed to function, and do so very poorly at increased taxpayer expense.

Regarding the article, my favorite aphorism is, “No one ever cut a ribbon over a fixed pothole.”

What about things like sending rovers to Mars? I can imagine a number of reasonable positions.