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it still operates as a private entity. Does it not?
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No, it does not. Being fully or partially owned by the Gov't, it is no longer controlled by its' CEO, Board of Directors, or share-holders, and as anybody with pension funds in Chrysler recently discovered, can be redirected by Gov't fiat even when the directions involved are flatly illegal for a fully-private company to undertake. The Gov't controls the entity in question according to:
1: The degree to which the Gov't owns shares, and
2: The amount of that company's Short 'N Curlies the Gov't has clenched in its' fist (ie. how badly "in the hole" to the Gov't the company in question is).
Ergo, since it is controlled to some degree by the Government, and since some of its' funds go -to- that Government, it is a Public or partially Public entity, no longer Private. It can -loon- private, and in some ways -act- private, but it is not.