Remarx

The current trend in governance in the United States emphasizes privatization and the mystical ability of the market to render efficient and desirable social outcomes. Yet, a large and relatively unknown segment of the public sector that runs entirely counter to this ideology exists and grows. Public authorities, a catch phrase for a multitude of public enterprises, are a segment of the government that is frequently used to produce and distribute commodities in a fashion that is typically considered verboten in the United States. Public authorities carne out of the Great Depression-era United States. Cities and states were desperate to find ways to solve unemployment problems, and one way to do that was through publicly funded projects that hired. These "public authorities" quickly gained popularity. Public authorities were also similar to private enterprises in the sense that they often produced and sold commodities.