Govt involvement in standards/technology/etc. for consumer products

[Beartracks]

My RW bro sent me the following quote, which he remarked was "dead-on":

"The way to fix health care is to take as much as possible away from the government and give it to the private sector. It is a universal law of nature that everything run by the government gets worse and more expensive over time -- the postal service, airport security and Amtrak. Everything run by the private sector gets better and cheaper over time -- cellphones, computers, hair products, dishwashers, etc."


Can anyone comment -- or provide sources and URLs! -- as to the government's involvement in the development of these products or their related technologies? That is to say, would these highly popular consumer products have even been invented or become widespread without government involvement that facilitated their development?

Just curious. I guess I'm thinking of things like electronic miniaturization, transmission protocols, rural electrification (which, for example, "sold a lot of dishwashers" in the mid 20th century, which brings down price), etc.

Thanks for any help!

[upi402]

1. NASA spinoff's links...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spin-off_technologies

http://spinoff.nasa.gov/

[jenw2]

2. And without the government-granted power monopolies...

none of the things he mentioned would have had power. Tell him that.

[Confusious]

3. Flash Drives

The theory and math behind flash drives was created in the 1930's, in a University, funded by the government.

What company is going to wait 70 years for a payoff, if ever?

As far as shit getting more expensive, government takes on all the stuff that is needing to be done, that the private sector doesn't want to do, because there's no profit it in.

Paying 25 cents to go down every road you turn onto would get really expensive after a while.

Every time they privatize a utility, shit gets more expensive. Plenty of links on Google to that piece of free market failure.

[hootinholler]

4. The military.

If he's RW that should shut him up.

[Beartracks]

5. I just realized he compared apples to oranges, sort of.

He's comparing government SERVICES to private-sector PRODUCTS.

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