<i>If the companies are creating products that do health&#x2F;environmental damage that the taxpayers have to fix, how is it silly?</i><p>A few reasons why it&#x27;s silly.  You can&#x27;t accurately measure it, so it&#x27;s a somewhat useless metric.  Also, everything is interdependent if you look at it that way.<p>Rich people are being subsidized by landlords due to rent control!<p>Alcohol companies are being subsidized because they don&#x27;t pay for crashes caused by drunk drivers.<p>It goes on and on and it doesn&#x27;t add much value.