It reads a lot like Google, with the gourmet chef and the catering to hackers. Only the outcome is radically different.

totally unconnected from my world. but thought provoking - the kings and queens of hitech.

Substitute "Amtrak" and it's basically the same story.

Amtrak was a subsidy to keep old technology around because that old technology employed lots of people; Thinking Machines was supposed to be new technology that would replace lots of people.

Governments are too schizophrenic to be consistent.