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Government operations

 

Government operations

Covered in this article is every penny spent in every operation and process of government at any level, as reported from the 99% unaudited annual financial statements and operational reports of the governments of the world.

Prevent waste


Today, one goal of a government owned corporation is usually to attempt to avoid the perceived worst excesses of centralised governmental planning and control (compare nationalisation, command economy) by placing such an entity at "arm's length" and adopting/adapting some of the perceived efficiencies/democratisation of corporate structure and governance such as separate Boards of Directors with independent (external) members.

External review


Some governments let external analysts review the operations and financials just like Wall Street analysts review public companies. An import element of that review is to hold regular, perhaps quarterly, public conference calls between management and analysts. Which are recorded for anyone to hear. This is however so far (2004) a rare occurance.

Government-owned corporations

Services


Government subsidiaries may produce services like:
  • Education (ex community college)
  • Emergency services
  • Entertainment (ex Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)
  • Entitlements
  • Financial services
  • Financing
  • Fire fighting
  • Healthcare
  • Insurance
  • Law
  • Law enforcement
  • Police
  • Postal service
  • Transport (ex government transportation)

    Goods


    Government subsidiaries may produce goods like:
  • Coal
  • Electrical infrastructure
  • Oil (ex Pemex)
  • Roads, bridges, tunnels
  • Sewers
  • Steel
  • Water infrastructure

    Local government


    At the level of local government, territorial or other authorities may set up government corporations such as "Local Authority Trading Enterprises" (LATEs).

    Commonwealth of Nations

    See also: crown corporation, state-owned enterprises of New Zealand

    In monarchical commonwealth countries country-wide government corporations often use the style "crown corporation". Notable exceptions include both the state-owned enterprises and the crown entities in New Zealand. Examples of crown corporations include the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in Canada and Air Canada before it underwent privatisation. Cabinet ministers (ministers of the crown) often control the sharess in such public corporations.

    United States

    Main article: United States government operations

    In the United States, businesses that are government owned include Amtrak and the United States Postal Service. Many states have government owned businesses for operations as well. Generally speaking, a statute passed by a legislature specifically sets up a government owned company in order to undertake a specific public purpose with public funds or public property.

    By business


    From the US Treasury Financial Statements for the year ended September 30, 2004

    Department of Agriculture


    The Department of Agriculture ...
  • Expenditures: 84.1 billion
  • *

    Department of Defense


    The Department of Defense ...
  • Expenditures: $672.1 billion

    Department of Education


    The Department of Education operates ...
  • Expenditures: $63.9 billion

    Department of Health & Human Services

    See also: social security (United States)

    The Department of Health & Human Services ...

  • Expenditures: $583.9 billion

    Department of Justice


    The Department of Justice ...
  • Expenditures: $35.4 billion

    Office of Personnel Management


    The Office of Personnel Management ...
  • Expenditures: $22.3 billion

    Social Security Administration


    The Social Security Administration (SSA) manages the United States' social insurance program, consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors benefits.
  • Expenditures: $534.9 billion

    U.S. Postal Service


    The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) ...
  • Expenditures: $54.0 billion

    By level


    During 2003. From [1]
  • All
  • *Expenditures: $3,399.7 billion
  • Federal
  • *Expenditures: $2,241.6 billion
  • State and local
  • *Expenditures: $1,498.1 billion

    Privatization

    Main article: privatization

    In Japan, Japan Post is partially owned by the government, but is about to get sold to the public during the following years (following 2004). Japan Railway (JR), NTT and Japan Tobacco was formally owned by the government.

    See also

  • Government
  • Government debt
  • Government ownership
  • State-owned enterprise

    External links

    United States

    All levels

  • Current Report: Financial Report of the United States: Publications & Guidance: Financial Management Service

    Federal level

  • Current Report: Combined Statement of Receipts, Outlays, and Balances of the United States Government (Combined Statement): Publications & Guidance: Financial Management Service

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    This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available
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