It is a brave man that gets in to bed with the government thinking he can withstand the intolerable pressure they can bring, if they decide, to bend his will.
Nationalisation...
How likely do you really think that is?
Surely, it is for the oracles to strike a claim on future events, but when you consider gold confiscation in the 1930s, oil nationalisation in the 1950s, the absurd nationalisations of the 1970s, and the crony-saving bail outs of the 'Too Big to Fails' in recent years, it is obvious, I would think, that politicians are happy to corrupt the free market when it benefits their short term interests.
None that I can think of or find, and space firms get bought all the time. I worked with someone who stayed in the same building for many years as it changed hands multiple times. Nobody ever told me they worked for "X, now NASA"--it was usually "Hughes, now Boeing" or "Y, now L-3."
Individual contractors, however, can and do get hired by the government, but it depends on the NASA center. Most of the people at Goddard are actually contractors, not government employees, I believe.
It is a brave man that gets in to bed with the government thinking he can withstand the intolerable pressure they can bring, if they decide, to bend his will.
Nationalisation...
How likely do you really think that is?
Surely, it is for the oracles to strike a claim on future events, but when you consider gold confiscation in the 1930s, oil nationalisation in the 1950s, the absurd nationalisations of the 1970s, and the crony-saving bail outs of the 'Too Big to Fails' in recent years, it is obvious, I would think, that politicians are happy to corrupt the free market when it benefits their short term interests.