Government's real role, regardless of your ideology: To provide some stability (that in turn justifies/enables investment and, broadly speaking, collaborative effort).<p>At that level, recent events and circumstances rate an "epic fail".<p>OTOH, some of the "business models" of current start-ups seem to be skating on considerably less than thin ice. There's a limit to how much screen real estate and specialization you can sell, all the more so given the increasing financial and authentication friction correspondent with increased adoption/participation. (A primary reason iTunes and its app store are "winning".)