You can't compare the way it was 125 years ago in the US to today.
126 years ago:
1. there were hardly any paved roads. The Lincoln Highway, the first (mostly) paved highway from coast to coast didn't happen until 1913. Pavement, for your car, comes at a tremendous price compared to dirt roads.
2. There used to be unregulated commercial fishing on Lake Michigan. By 1950, the Lake had been fished out. Today it's available again for sport fishing but only because the surrounding states restock the fish yearly from hatcheries. That $30 fishing license helps pay for that. And the limits on catches helps keep sport fishing alive for everyone.
3. The first sewers were going in here. All they did was keep the raw sewage from flowing in the streets by dumping it and rainwater into the streams. The streams became dead open sewers. We're still undoing those combined sewers from a century ago to separate sewer water from rain water. The cost is huge partly because we have to tear up those paved streets that our cars love so much to get to the 100 year old sewers. Not mentioning the treatment plant cost.
4. In towns, all that sewage soon contaminated the wells so they put in a municipal water system. That costs money and pipes don't last forever so they have to be replaced. Wait for it: which means tearing up those precious paved streets first.
5. We didn't need to regulate vehicle speeds because it was still mostly a 3 mph world of horses pulling wagons on those old dirt roads. If you wanted to move faster you took a streetcar or a train if there was one.
6. 50 years ago one of our open sewer waterways caught fire. The damn thing burned for for a week or more. So we regulated industrial sewage in a big way. It's no prize, but it's way cleaner now than it was.
7. 125 years ago there was a radium factory in town so your watch dial would glow in the dark. They still don't know what to do with that land because the background radiation is high from the contaminated soil.
I could go on forever. My point is people and industries don't regulate themselves. We tried it and it does not work. That and "progress" all come at a price. There is no free lunch. You want roads, railroads, clean water, clean air, fish, birds, cars, police, firefighters, ambulances, hospitals, schools, electricity, 4G, wired broadband all at the same time, it costs money and it can only be done with regulations and enforcement.
Do I like all the rules, regulations and fees? No. I'm involved in my town government in a small way. Everything we do requires permission from county, state, federal authorities. It requires legions of lawyers, engineers, "consultants" just to do the paperwork required for permission. And when you've finally built something, you have to pay to maintain it and generate regualr reports to all those government agencies. It all costs taxpayers a lot of money, but it's better than a free for all like we had 125 years ago. We're still undoing the mistakes made in the last 125 years.
