While driving in Florida I noticed a number of toll booths with ads from Geico. I have nothing against the company. As Warren Buffet is a fan of TMCnet, I naturally am a fan of Geico.

My thoughts don't really pertain to Geico anyway but I got to thinking about how the public sector competes with the private sector. I suppose advertising on toll booths is a great way to get to the same audience you would reach with billboards. I wonder what Clear Channel thinks of all this.

Of course this competition is not isolated as Fedex and UPS compete with the USPS. In fact the government forbids the other carriers access to PO boxes -- something you may deem extremely anticompetitive.

On the one hand I applaud the entrepreneurial spirit of government workers who realize they can make money from myriad sponsorships in subways and tolls but on the other hand there seems to be something unfair about the situation.

When it comes to trade shows, the majority of convention centers are generally all owned by city governments so in this case the government allows shows to take place.

So I guess we need the government in some cases to allow us to conduct business. The US government is responsible for the Internet for example. But I suppose it is healthy to wonder if the government may be going too far in competing with media companies as they try everything they can to increase their income.