Is Nationalization Un-American?

[citizen]

NATIONIALIZATION: public/government ownership of major parts of the economy

It's all around us and has been for years, for instance

- 45 million Americans rely on public power utilities for their electricity. Those utilities are nationalized - that is, they are owned and operated by government (in this case, municipal governments).
- the subway system, a commuter train like New Jersey Transit, a public bus or Amtrak?
- mailing letters through the U.S. Postal Service
- Veterans Administration providing a fully nationalized system
- In World War I, the nations' railroads were successfully nationalized to sustain the war effort.
- In the 1930s, the Reconstruction Finance Corp. bought millions of shares in over 6,000 banks in order to rescue them.
- During World War II, government took control of the economy's entire pricing system for consumer goods--a more complex job than taking over several big banks--and did quite well at it, most economists agree.
- In the 1980s, the Resolution Trust Corp. seized hundreds of failed savings and loans in order to save the system.
- After 9/11, the government effectively nationalized the private-security firms at airports, and replaced them with the federal TSA.

Something to think about.