Can Government Operated Businesses Succeed

Economy
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1

Policy Proposal: The National Enterprise Initiative (NEI
Objective:
To create government-operated, low-level service enterprises that provide employment opportunities for all skill levels, foster economic growth, generate revenue for public programs, and promote fair market competition in underserved industries.

  1. Establishment of Government Enterprises

Create government-operated service businesses in industries with high demand, underserved markets, or excessive private-sector dominance. Examples include:

Affordable childcare centers.

Public broadband services in rural and underserved urban areas.

Green energy installation services (e.g., solar panel installation, energy efficiency retrofitting).

Recycling and waste management services.

Basic home repair and maintenance services.

  1. Universal Employment Guarantee

Offer jobs to any individual seeking employment, with positions requiring minimal qualifications or training.

Include job training programs to ensure skill development and upward mobility within or beyond the government enterprise.

  1. Revenue Generation

Structure enterprises to be revenue-generating and self-sustaining. Profits will be reinvested into:

Expanding the enterprises.

Funding public programs (e.g., education, healthcare, infrastructure).

Reducing national debt or deficits.

  1. Competitive Pricing and Public-Private Partnerships

Price services competitively to ensure affordability for consumers while maintaining financial viability.

Encourage collaboration with private businesses to share expertise, reduce costs, and ensure efficiency.

  1. Worker Protections and Benefits

Guarantee fair wages, health insurance, and job stability for all employees.

Provide pathways for career advancement, including certifications, apprenticeships, and transition programs to private-sector jobs.

  1. Focus on Underserved Markets

Prioritize launching enterprises in regions where private businesses are limited or unwilling to operate, such as rural areas, low-income urban neighborhoods, or regions affected by economic decline.

  1. Environmental and Social Goals

Align enterprises with broader national goals, such as:

Reducing carbon emissions (green energy projects).

Increasing access to affordable childcare and elder care.

Addressing digital inequality through universal broadband.
Funding and Financial Model

  1. Initial Investment:

Use federal grants and low-interest loans to fund the initial setup of enterprises.

Tap into existing programs like the American Rescue Plan or similar initiatives for infrastructure development.

  1. Ongoing Revenue:

Operate on a self-sustaining model where revenues from services cover operational costs.

Profits generated will be reinvested into public programs or enterprise expansion.

  1. Tax Incentives and Collaboration:

Offer tax incentives to private businesses collaborating with government enterprises to avoid conflicts and encourage cooperation

Expected Benefits

  1. Employment Growth:

Provide guaranteed jobs for individuals at all skill levels, reducing unemployment and underemployment.

Create career pathways for economic mobility.

  1. Economic Stimulus:

Increased employment will lead to higher consumer spending, boosting local and national economies.

Affordable services will ease financial burdens on working families.

  1. Revenue for Public Programs:

Self-sustaining enterprises will generate new income streams for the government, reducing reliance on taxes or debt.

  1. Market Improvements:

Increase competition in industries with limited private-sector players, driving down prices and improving service quality.

  1. Social and Environmental Impact:

Expand access to essential services like childcare, broadband, and clean energy.

Reduce environmental harm through green initiatives and better waste management.

3

In response to your question, the answer is no, they cannot! Hopefully, this might change someday, but here’s a good example for you:

  1. The federal government indeed funds the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
  2. The NIH is involved in the development and research of various drugs and medical treatments.
  3. Once developed, the NIH licenses these drugs to various pharmaceutical companies for further development, production, and distribution.

The NIH plays a crucial role in advancing medical research and innovation, often partnering with private companies to bring new treatments to market. However, while taxpayers fund the drug development and research, the government only receives a very small royalty from these pharmaceuticals.

At current drug prices, the government could be making hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue. Instead, we essentially give these advancements away, allowing private companies to charge taxpayers and insurance companies vast sums for medications. Despite our investment, we don’t even get price controls.

This issue could be addressed by ensuring that if the government has a financial investment in drug development, it also has a financial interest in the profits, similar to any private investor. Unfortunately, our research and taxpayer money are essentially given away for a minuscule royalty.

This problem isn’t limited to drug development. Look at the cost of college, including community colleges. The government provides significant funding to these institutions through federal and state funds, grants to students, and student loans. Colleges have every incentive to charge the maximum grants and loans cover because the government is footing the bill, if the government wasn’t they would have to charge what the people could afford or they wouldn’t be in business non for profit or not.

Allowing the government to run businesses leads to unchecked spending, pouring money indefinitely into projects. I hope changes are made to address these issues, but it would affect many people’s stocks, retirements, and political insiders engaged in trading.

Just FYI we had a self-sustaining model that ran perfect until the government got involved. It was the US Post office the US Post office used to run completely self-sustained until the US government got involved and said hey that’s a government agency it should not be making money so they required the post office to give them everything they made in turn they gave the post office and operating budget and operating budget that they felt was best and ever since then the post office as a whole has struggled we’ve lost service one day of the week, many post offices were closed. Because the federal felt that they could run things, and technically they can they can run it right into the dirt just like they always do.

4

The problem is that whether a government operated business can succeed is arguably irrelevant since they just have access to more ‘free’ funds to keep running.

5

No.