[rodgerd]

> Problem is, that rarely happened because govs are generally bad (not skilled / trained) at running businesses

These are businesses that have been run so poorly they're begging the government to force citizens to donate them money. I don't think there's any reason to believe the private sector has any particular genius here.

[TeMPOraL]

I think there's a fair argument to make that running a profitable business isn't government's core competency. They operate under different financial constraints. At the same time though, we've overspecialized in the private sector. We have people so specialized in running a business that the actual thing the business does is abstracted away. Putting them in positions of control turns the business into a social parasite.

[rodgerd]

When we see that the US airline business is asking for a $50 billion bailout, having engaged in $45 billion of stock buybacks, it appears that the sector is dominated by owners and execs who are either completely incompetent at risk management, or really in the business of robbing the public purse.

[TeMPOraL]

I'd definitely say the latter. But that's not surprising, really. A lot of the entities I've heard of that do government contracting aren't there to deliver value, but to rob the government. Companies doing quality work tend to get outbid.