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Well, there were certainly cases where companies pioneered something and government took over later - like railways in Austria-Hungary. The conservative governm
by m4rtink 4y ago
Well, there were certainly cases where companies pioneered something and government took over later - like railways in Austria-Hungary. The conservative government in Vienna did not thin these newfangled trains could ever make money, but handed out permits to private companies anyway. Then when it saw how bloody lucrative it is, it nationalized those companies afterwards.
And there are other examples, such as the East India Company having its own army, navy and effectively ruling a big part of India at a time.
- rswail 4y agoThe East India Company was a mechanism for the British Empire to spread its rule while maintaining "plausible deniability" about the capture of the wealth of the conquered land and people. Air travel only began because the US Mail paid for airmail deliveries. NASA only began because the post-war MIC needed to develop ICBMs. Public education only began because industrialization required an educated workforce.