Are Interstate Highways and their ongoing improvements welfare for trucking companies? Apologies for answering a question with a question. You could say that trucking companies pay taxes but airlines do as well. I would guess that the money paid in taxes by trucking companies is much less than the cost of providing safe and in most cases well maintained highways. The US economy is not a pure capatilist economy. It is a "mixed" economy. The government has a role in the economy to provide for services and facilities that the private enterprise can't provide for themselves. Is the airline industry vital to our economy? I would think so. I haven't studied the bail out package but I think it's important to realize that government does play a key role in keeping our economy functioning.