Things that should never have been privatized (& for profit)
1. Education
2. Prisons
3. Health care and mental healthcare
4. Essential utilities, especially water and electricity
5. Retirement
6. Emergency services (fire and rescue)
7. Safety (especially allowing companies to 'self regulate')
8. Military
Just remember, 99 times out of 100, once a company goes 'public', shareholders' profits become more important than ANYTHING.
@Darkphoenix These weren't actively privatized. They started out as private, voluntary endeavors, largely via donations to churches (always been a pipeline to power). Think monks hand lettering *all* the books, and about half of western hospital names starting with "Saint."
The ethical issue upstairs is whether people should be compelled by government power (guns, prison, fines) to provide all of that... which is effectively the flip of communism.
Not arguing for/against. History matters.
@Darkphoenix OK, true, (in 2022, 8%*) thanks in large part to public policies of the 80's & arguably moreso 90's. It might aslo be argued that state-run prisons aren't any better. Possibly easier to oversee, but not necessarily better.
*https://www.sentencingproject.org/reports/private-prisons-in-the-united-states/
That's not what you're arguing, though, and not what I was addressing either. We have a tangled private public mess in part because so many of us haven't dissected its roots.
Dark Phoenix 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇬🇱🇵🇦🇵🇸🏳️🌈
Janis