[villasv]

This. Failing to understand public institutions as public hands is one of the reasons people misjudge politics so badly.

[amelius]

"In public hands" can mean a lot of things.

For example, if I run a business which banks do not approve of, then they can block my account or make it impossible to make transfers. What good does it if the bank is "in public hands" in that case?

[I_am_tiberius]

What I understand as "in public hands" in this context is that government cannot control or impact it.