Should the Department of Commerce be abolished?

[A18]

Should the Department of Commerce be abolished?

Discuss.

[Emsworth]

The chief purpose of the Department of Commerce is to subsidize corporations. It conducts research with public funds, even though private companies could afford to do so quite easily on their own. It also operates one of the worst federal programs, the Minority Business Development Agency. It definitely deserves to be abolished, and never should have existed in the first place.

It does have a few useful agencies, such as the Census Bureau and the Patent and Trademark Office. These organizations, however, can easily be transferred to other departments.

[WalterMitty]

probably should be downsized significantly.

it will never happen, though.

remember the firestorm that erupted when santorum proposed that the national weather service (part of the dept of commerce) be privatized?

[Blue Rectangle]

I would have called the FTC a necessary component of the DoC...but then I found out it's not in the DoC.

NIST and NOAA can be turned over to various universities.  The BEA can go to the Treasury Dept.

[MODU]

I say keep it, but redefine it's purpose in the modern global economy.

[MasterJedi]

I say keep it, but redefine it's purpose in the modern global economy.

^^^^^