I'm not sure you understand what I was referring to. Public-private partnerships are where the government works in concert with private enterprise to do somethi

I'm not sure you understand what I was referring to. Public-private partnerships are where the government works in concert with private enterprise to do something (such as paying for it, while the enterprise actually does the work). Public universities are simply public. There's no problem with them and they can in fact be both good and cheap. > In the UK, I think council housing was a great idea - until they started selling it off (i.e. privatizing it). Exactly. If the government wants to operate public housing, that's fine. The problem is when the government starts giving private enterprises control of the housing and the opportunity to make profits while government still foots the bill.