Should the government be running Businesses?

Question

I love Politics but I have always been curious into whether Government should have a play in running and owning businesses would they be better in Privatisating them, such examples are power companies, Telcos, Roads, Health, Airlines etc etc would we get better and cheaper services and provide us with more choice
ps I am not american so I am only wanting a general opinion not how they do things there

Answer 1

In my opinion.. Govt. should not be running businesses... They're not elected to do so.. They're here for looking into the people's need and running business would involve a profit oriented scheme which may affect the needy.. If the power sector is fully privatized, then the private companies' main agenda will be that of profit making. If a power shortage/crisis occurs ,the Private companies would be interested in delivering supply to their target customers who run factories and industries and the poor needy people will be left in no man's land. Maybe roads and Airlines can be privatized to some extent and sectors such as Power and Health should never be given to the private parties..

Also running a sector in a business oriented mentality by the govt is not feasible as the Govt. is changed every 5 years or so according to the law of the land...

Answer 2

I think that there should necessarily be some state run businesses, especially when it comes to what we have come to recognize as necessities. Power plants, for instance, are better served by being state owned, so that private sector abuses that can result in loss of services (e.g. what happened in a state in the country you don't want to know how they do things there) or price gouging. Granted, the gov't may be innefecient, but at least they are there to serve the will of the people and not their bottom line. Also, I think the gov't should heavily regulate but not own other industries like food, drugs, airlines, etc. Things that involve public safety issues. Other than that, gov't should stay out of the way as much as possible.

Answer 3

Well, in general, all of the things you mentioned are already privately owned, in the United States. One thing we do know here, you can't depend on the government to do things in a streamlined, profitable fashion. It's just in the nature of government to be efficient. God help us if the Democrats start a National Health-Care !!

Answer 4

The government should be protecting all of the citizenry,and the only way to do so is to properly regulate all businesses, because left to themselves they will not do it! Federal rules and regulations are already in place but if the AG refuses to enforces the laws and rules/regulations then what do we have but a fascist state!

Answer 5

Government must not run businesses because it must concentrate on governance. It must only takeover businesses when the economy is being sabotaged as an exercise of the police power of the state.

Answer 6

No.
The businesses are running the govt.