What I meant is that when government money is flowing from the tap, and competition for customer money isn't part of the picture any more, evolution will select for those that are the most successful -- and ruthless -- at drinking from that tap. Adding twelve million regulations to "prevent" this will just change the parameters of that evolution.

Profit, non-profit, no real difference apparently. When I pointed out once that almost all of the top U.S. private medical insurance companies were non-profit, someone immediately told me that they were just as nasty and greedy as anyone else in the private sector.

An example of natural selection: Some state (I think it was Florida) decided it didn't need the High Speed Rail money. Did we save some bucks (for a change)? Hell, no. Other states lined up to grab it before it hit the ground. Florida gets nothing for its virtue, and the strongest pigs get the corn.

Government funding is the ultimate Tragedy of the Commons.