One argument I've heard in favor of government-owned industry is for things that must be more or less guaranteed for everybody, regardless of capital.
Drinking water, postal service, election management, and violence (police, national guard, military) come to mind.
Those examples might be more efficient and affordable if privatized, but then it might be expensive or unreliable to get mail in Alaska, or there might be lawlessness near parts of the Mexican border, or elections might be fraudulent in some districts.
Throwing tax dollars, laws, and bureaucracy at these things doesn't necessarily improve them, but maybe it raises the bottom, at considerable cost.
One argument I've heard in favor of government-owned industry is for things that must be more or less guaranteed for everybody, regardless of capital.
Drinking water, postal service, election management, and violence (police, national guard, military) come to mind.
Those examples might be more efficient and affordable if privatized, but then it might be expensive or unreliable to get mail in Alaska, or there might be lawlessness near parts of the Mexican border, or elections might be fraudulent in some districts.
Throwing tax dollars, laws, and bureaucracy at these things doesn't necessarily improve them, but maybe it raises the bottom, at considerable cost.