I wouldn’t mind living in Norway or Denmark, but to each their own, I guess.

Why do you think that might be the case?

The neoliberal consensus, mostly. The legalized corruption and graft of privatization.

Publicly-owned extractive industry is incredibly common. Publicly-owned utilities are incredibly common. Publicly-owned manufacturers used to be much more common, but still exist.

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I think one must be very credulous of the motives of politicians to accept that self-imposed state paralysis was an attempt to fight corruption and not an attempt to make the case for privatization more compelling. Neoliberal dismantling of state capacity has been a bipartisan goal for the last 50 years.

Sounds like a “problem” created by people with an interest in the state not performing that role. There are many ways to privatize a state asset.

I know. And I think that is a failed model. Of course if your goal is to make certain people rich it’s a very successful model.

I feel, generally, that tax dollars should not go to private companies or institutions.