Yeah, like IBM and Intel and GE and GM are shining examples of how effectively the private sector runs companies. Maybe large enterprises are by their nature inefficient. Maybe productivity isn't the best metric for a utility. We could, for instance, prioritize resiliency, longevity, accessibility, and environmental concerns.
The US government just allocated $10b towards Intel, and bailed out GM in the past. So what you said is clearly not the case. Now we have publicly-funded private management that is failing. At least if they were publicly owned and managed outright, they wouldn't be gutted by executives prioritizing quarterly profits.
Executives should prioritize producing things people are willing to pay money for cheaply. If there is a bias towards short-termism, that is a governance problem that should be addressed.
I agree that the US taking stakes or picking winners is bad, I don't think it follows that nationalization is the solution.
