Airlines--Can you say Braniff?
Banks--1929 all over again. There was a reason Roosevelt put a stop to Investing on Margin (getting a loan for money to invest.)
Energy-Enron, yes, Haliburton, Exxon, Chevron too....
Phones--Thanks to Deregulation and disregard to the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, AT&T is one merger away from becoming MaBell again.
TV/Cable--You have a choice: Comcast or Dish. Both suck.

For some reason our national utilities are privately owned. If anything in this world should be nationalized, it's the Utilities and industries such as transportation and the businesses that keep them running.