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In reply to the discussion: Can any think of an instance when privatizing or deregulating something benefited the public? [View all]Recursion
(56,582 posts)27. Not much in the US; we've never had many nationalized industries
I can think of more explicitly socialist countries (eg, India) where de-nationalization has been (at least from time to time) a good thing.
The whole terminology is kind of Orwellian: it's not like the US has ever been particularly nationalized. The closest thing was Bell Telephones (which was essentially funded by a mandated tax), and its breakup was the closest example of "good" privatization the US has seen (though it too was a mixed bag).
Mostly, "privatization" in the context of the US means oligarchization and removal of actual capitalist competition. (Yet another reminder that "real" capitalism isn't the enemy here...)
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Can any think of an instance when privatizing or deregulating something benefited the public? [View all]
KauaiK
May 2014
OP
I know the private water and sewer facility servicing my place only charges $800 a year
GoneFishin
May 2014
#1
Breaking up the Bell Telephone System seemed to have made telecommunications more competitive.
Jenoch
May 2014
#2
That was breaking up a monopoly. Not the same thing as giving away something public owned.
McCamy Taylor
May 2014
#3
The OP said privatizing or deregulating something benefited the public
Algernon Moncrieff
May 2014
#5
The industry has not been deregulated at all what you are talking about is how Congress passed laws
Exposethefrauds
May 2014
#25