Next, private ownership of (unpolluted) air metered like natural gas and delivered to your home.

should private companies control our most precious natural resource?

No.

should private companies control our most precious natural resource?

No. But. Historically, public agencies have been driven by political imperatives to short-cut the provision of sufficient clean water to service their communities. Whether it's succumbing to pressure for more development that stretches the water infrastructure or to pressure not to increase taxes and doing so by cutting development and maintenance of 'invisible' infrastructure, public agencies have failed to ensure an on-going supply of clean water.

Until recently, the region I live in was looking down the barrel of a waterless future, subject to incredibly stringent water restrictions (including a time limit on showers). What solved this problem? More investment in infrastructure (including a bizarre pipeline that will completely drain an entire city of water just to fill the pipe that supplies another city)? Higher taxes to pay for this investment? Public agencies taking steps to aggressively curb their own water use? All those things happened, but not one of them would have saved us in the end. What solved the problem was that it rained. We went from a position of dire shortages to all water supply dams being at 100% capacity (up to 10 years supply) due to an event that is uncontrollable and unpredictable.

The root cause of the water shortages in a lot of (developed) areas is the fault of public agencies short-sighted actions and bad, politically-motivated decisions. Does this mean we should hand control to the private sector? No. Private sector organisations have a legitimate agenda of maximising profit and have no imperative to serve a social agenda except where it contributes to the primary agenda. Does this mean we should leave it to public agencies to fix their problems? No. Public agencies have proven conclusively that they are unable to make the tough decisions needed to ensure a reliable, safe water supply. I think the only way to resolve this dilemma is a partnership of independent pubic agencies (ie not directly part of a government) and private organisations, such that required infrastructure, which is difficult to do properly with a commercial imperative, is developed, maintained and controlled in such a way to ensure a sustainable water supply is established. Selling of water is then done by private enterprise, who are better at servicing customers. It's not perfect by any means, but it draws on the strengths of both sectors.

Privatise the Air, you say?