[snip] ...The market system and competition would ensure better quality and lower costs... [/snip]
That guy Adam Smith has a lot to answer for 
It's odd how many denationalise industries perform poorly. Recently in the UK, we had the situation where one of the rail operators wanted to give the unprofitable part of the network back to the government while they kept the highly profitable lines. I bet all private companies wish that could be that during a recession :D
Being at a graduate level of knowledge on Economics I could reply to this with a full frontal, no holds barred evaluation essay on this.
But sadly that also means I'm a student so I shall not even start it.
I have a bachelor degree in business economics.
To put things in layman's terms, a free market needs certain ingredients in order to work. Such as:
A noticable difference between brands.
The choise NOT to use the product.
These ingredients aren't there in public services/facilities.
There's not enough price difference in health insurance and there's no difference in service either and I cannot choose not to use it.
Same goes for electicity and gas.
When they all got privatised in Holland, the civil servants were replaced by managers.
We all know how to stero type civil cervants and the same goes for managers only they're even more expensive. The costs of those managers are huge. And above that there's a profit that has to be made and has to be more every year.
