Many of today's state-owned companies are monopolies or quasi-monopolies: Brazil's Petrobras, China Mobile, China State Construction Engineering Corporation and Mexico's Federal Electricity Commission, to name but a few of the mongrel giants that bestride the business world these days.

ECONOMIST: The East India Company

Interstate businesses headquartered in Maine, whether the business is law practice, retail sales, construction, or any other activity that generates income outside the state, do not, by having their headquarters in Maine, subject all their employees who live and work outside the state to Maine income taxation on earnings generated in other states.

FORBES: New Hampshire Law Partners Face Maine Income Tax

If money (or political will) dries up before construction extends to San Francisco or Los Angeles, the fear is that the state will be left with that dread prospect: a train to nowhere.

ECONOMIST: Infrastructure in California