# What was the largest privatization of a previously Federal function (e.g. air-traffic) in history?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-largest-privatization-of-a-previously-federal-function-e-g-air-traffic-in-history/788184
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 5, 2017, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-largest-privatization-of-a-previously-federal-function-e-g-air-traffic-in-history/788184 "2017-06-05T14:59:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2017, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-largest-privatization-of-a-previously-federal-function-e-g-air-traffic-in-history/788184/1 "2017-06-05T14:59:50Z")
See query–I’m not sure about the word “function”: I’m reading about the feints and shuffles for privatizing air traffic control ([WSJ](https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-to-push-for-privatization-of-air-traffic-control-1496624807)), and would like to get some context.
It occurs to me that the query could also apply to UK, where I believe under Thatcher there were some enormous ones, with huge social upheaval.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2017, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-largest-privatization-of-a-previously-federal-function-e-g-air-traffic-in-history/788184/2 "2017-06-05T15:17:54Z")
US Post Office -\> US Postal Service has to rank up there.
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### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2017, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-largest-privatization-of-a-previously-federal-function-e-g-air-traffic-in-history/788184/3 "2017-06-05T15:43:00Z")
The US Postal Service is still a federally owned organization.
There are some housing finance organizations (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) which come to mind.
NASA is privatizing rockets.
There was the federal nationalization (and then reversal) of railroads in World War I:
> **[United States Railroad Administration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Railroad_Administration)**
>
> The United States Railroad Administration (USRA) was the name of the nationalized railroad system of the United States between December 28, 1917, and March 1, 1920. It was the largest American experiment with nationalization, and was undertaken against a background of war emergency following American entry into World War I. During its brief existence, the USRA made major investments in the United States railroad system, and introduced standardized locomotive and railroad car classes, known as Al...
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### Author:  [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2017, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-largest-privatization-of-a-previously-federal-function-e-g-air-traffic-in-history/788184/4 "2017-06-05T15:56:00Z")
Amtrak may be the largest example of the reverse.
Passenger train service was once provided by private businesses, now it is a federal agency.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2017, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-largest-privatization-of-a-previously-federal-function-e-g-air-traffic-in-history/788184/5 "2017-06-05T16:00:13Z")
> [@PastTense](#):
>
> …
> There was the federal nationalization (and then reversal) of railroads in World War I:
> [United States Railroad Administration - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Railroad_Administration)
Didn’t Truman (or JFK?) briefly nationalize, or threaten to nationalize, the steel industry?
Not sure where Reagan’s firing en masse of ATC personnel fits in in all this.
But, as a reminder, OP is on privatization, not nationalization, which perhaps can be introduced and most certainly in democracies–e.g., the not the Soviets, Cubans, and all their sorry brethren.
ETA: same comment to **Boffking** above.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-largest-privatization-of-a-previously-federal-function-e-g-air-traffic-in-history/788184/6 "2017-06-05T16:48:53Z")
> [@boffking](#):
>
> Amtrak may be the largest example of the reverse.
> Passenger train service was once provided by private businesses, now it is a federal agency.
Yes, though it was a case of the government taking over passenger rail service because the railroads were losing money on it, and wanted to get out of it. The government decided that long-haul passenger rail service was a thing that needed to be preserved, and, thus, we got Amtrak – had they not done so, while a few areas might have kept passenger service (i.e., the Northeast Corridor, plus local commuter trains, which generally aren’t part of Amtrak), the long-haul routes would have likely disappeared.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-largest-privatization-of-a-previously-federal-function-e-g-air-traffic-in-history/788184/7 "2017-06-05T17:17:22Z")
I don’t have a cite, but I think the privatization of British Telecom brought in something like £5 billion.
[Conrail](http://www.conrail.com/history/)was an interesting case. It was the cargo version of Amtrak. The feds took over a half-dozen bankrupt railroads to save freight service in the Northeast U.S. The government sold Conrail 11 years later for $1.9 billion.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2017, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-largest-privatization-of-a-previously-federal-function-e-g-air-traffic-in-history/788184/8 "2017-06-05T17:25:43Z")
> [@PastTense](#):
>
> The US Postal Service is still a federally owned organization.
The problem being that “privatizing” quasi-governmental functions means the new entity ends up being a lot like a governmental organization, if not bound pretty tightly to government rule, regulations and oversight.
Are there ANY cases of a government-run service or function being converted wholly to “private” operation, with no gummint control, ownership or oversight beyond what public utilities must bear?
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2017, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-largest-privatization-of-a-previously-federal-function-e-g-air-traffic-in-history/788184/9 "2017-06-05T18:26:39Z")
> [@kunilou](#):
>
> The government sold Conrail 11 years later for $1.9 billion.
21 years later. 1976-1997
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### Author:  [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2017, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-largest-privatization-of-a-previously-federal-function-e-g-air-traffic-in-history/788184/10 "2017-06-05T19:28:42Z")
> [@PastTense](#):
>
> There was the federal nationalization (and then reversal) of railroads in World War I:
> [United States Railroad Administration - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Railroad_Administration)
And according to one noted expert on rail, and on privatization \*, the US railroads never ran more efficiently before or since.
Government gets things done.
- Christian Wolmar.
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### Author:  [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2017, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-largest-privatization-of-a-previously-federal-function-e-g-air-traffic-in-history/788184/11 "2017-06-05T19:53:34Z")
> [@boffking](#):
>
> Amtrak may be the largest example of the reverse.
> Passenger train service was once provided by private businesses, now it is a federal agency.
Depending on how you count, the printing of paper money could swamp this. From sometime in the 1830s until 1866 private banks and railroads (and I think just about anyone actually) could issue currency. Only the government could mint coins. I don’t know how much private money circulated, but it was a lot; nor do I know exactly how you should compare this to Amtrak, though adjusting for inflation would be a must.
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### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2017, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-largest-privatization-of-a-previously-federal-function-e-g-air-traffic-in-history/788184/12 "2017-06-05T20:30:05Z")
Military housing has been privatized, but I’m not sure any one knows what dollar amount to put on it. It was done base-by-base, not as a single transaction. But if anyone added it all up, I’m sure the total would have been impressive.