While I understand your argument, which is based on perverse incentives for management of failing firms ("Uncle Sam will bail us out!"), there is a nontrivial g

While I understand your argument, which is based on perverse incentives for management of failing firms ("Uncle Sam will bail us out!"), there is a nontrivial global dimension to the problem. The US cannot afford to lose some capabilities, like spaceflight. Or production of certain hardware. You can theoretically outsource them to allies, but some of those allies may be in strategically precarious situation. Like Taiwan and South Korea, the two giants of advanced semiconductor production. Or Finland, the only nation which is capable of producing advanced icebreakers for reasonable price and on reasonable schedule. Also, an adversary like China may be able to kill a healthy US corporation by massive dumping. Then what?