I always use railways to illustrate this example. Every developed country in the world has them. They are indispensable, cities would grind to a halt without mass commuter transportation. Yet, they are also notoriously expensive. They just don't pay their way. People couldn't afford the ride. But because they are an essential service, governments swallow the costs.
That's the primary point of government. Not to wage war across the world, but to provide essential services to the people that private industry can't do at an affordable price.
I think that it goes a lot deeper than that. In the 90s I worked on a joint base shared with Americans and made a lot of American friends. They were shocked and sarcastic about the benefits that we had (Australians) that they did not have. Things such as long service leave (12 weeks paid leave after 10 years service) and even our four weeks annual leave. The shocked but I can understand, but the sarcasm I don't get? It was as if our refusal to expend ourselves to the grind diminished us as a culture ?
That was 35 years ago, and our conditions have degraded accordingly. But I remember the American sentiment of the times well.