Comment by Nevermark

I don't have any "beliefs", just best understandings at any give time, which I am constantly and actively improving.

Of course I don't know everything about anything. It floors me that people ever think they do. And that many are not motivated learners or listeners, even/often in the areas they most care about.

I can't make sense of your negative assessment of a few private cars paying their way on public tracks, already used by large organizations.

But the way you described public access in general was a good viewpoint, and that helped me clarify my own reasoning.

You didn't explicitly use the words marginal cost, but your description was very close to that, and it really struck me as the heart of the matter. A consistent way to think about moral economic policies for public things being made available to private parties, at serious discounts, but without public tax dollars subsidizing those private parties. (Unless subsidizing for everyone is the point, like libraries.)

All things being equal, it is morally wrong when taxes subsidize something only wealthy people can afford. That seems like a point of agreement.

Subtle distinctions can matter a lot, as it did here, so thank you.

Cheers!