One of my articles. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/peter-morgan/austerity-alternative_b_15926506.html Commercial enterprise could be a way to fund governments rather than a drain on the population's wealth.
They should go into the tax preparation business. H&Rdotgov, instant refunds. They could sell voter ids with a 100% markup. They could make pot legal but pass a law that you have to buy it from the government store. They could open a really fancy resort where everybody that is anybody that needs a government favor goes. Rooms start at 17k per night and it's all legal.
" The foreign market will be key, even if the product is not used within the domestic economy it could be sold abroad. The government does not even have to develop the product itself, entrepreneurs will approach the government with ideas that can be patented, its role will be to act as the patent investor and legal enforcer. Shared ownership and rewards. " Could you prefer to file (apply for patents) your patent-able idea before approaching/selling it to the government?
Another issue is it seems an invention cannot be patent-able if it is for government's defense/military applications. AFAIK Any other government applications cannot be patent-able?
It's already the cases in the few assets that the government have (that is, services that don't suck). Dubai bought the FCA's regulatory framework many years ago and then managed to break it into unmanageable pieces.