Fighter aircraft production should be nationalized anyway.
The companies put no money of their own into it (Boeing Bird of Prey excepted) and essentially regurgitate the machine the government wants, with a profit premium.
Boeing is doing fine building 787’s and other commercial airliners.
Nationalize Lockheed - they don’t have any commercial customers and can’t compete in a commercial free market anyway - and move on.
The Navy built their own ships for over a century. And the Army used to have Armories.
Because the government does such a good job of managing what they do now?
Workers at Boeing and Lockheed are far more likely to be fired for not producing than those working at the post office or IRS. Not to mention the actions of the management...
NASA
Any other question?
Agreed. This is one thing that does not belong in the private sector. There is no competitive market place and no reason for profit.
Argue this with a pure conservative capitalist though and see what you get. All black or white with no room for any shade of gray, reason, logic or judgment. And don’t dare fiddle with the lobby or the politicians cash kickback cows.
“The Navy built their own ships for over a century.”
When the navy yards were “competing” with private yards like Newport News, they couldn’t come close to the quality and price that the private yards offered. The Philadelphia yard, for example, was given contracts (at huge excess costs to the taxpayer) just to keep it open and the government workers employed. Even the bloated defense bureaucracy wanted it closed because it was facing an era of increasingly tight budgets as the Cold War ended.