Federation on the Political Compass

[K. A. Pital]

If Picard was churning out starships in his backyard, maybe it would've attracted the attention of the Federation... which is why he sticks to wine and Starfleet vessels are all we see

[Simon_Jester]

If Picard was churning out starships in his backyard, maybe it would've attracted the attention of the Federation... which is why he sticks to wine and Starfleet vessels are all we see

One distinct possibility is that while Earth, specifically, has no privately owned key industry (i.e. privately owned small farms producing special snooty foods, but no privately owned replicator factories or antimatter refineries)... Other worlds of the Federation might. The Federation is tolerant culturally, so it would hardly be surprising if they accept private property among member species that value it, while not doing anything in particular to encourage it elsewhere.

[SpottedKitty]

USS Jenolen

A good point, I'd forgotten about that ship. I thought I'd remembered it as a small scout that Scotty was deadheading on, but Memory Alpha calls it a "large personnel transport", and it was in fact carrying passengers on its last flight.

[FaxModem1]

From Conspiracy:

PICARD: Data, are you familiar with Dytallix B?
DATA: Dytallix B is one of seven uninhabited planets mined for the Federation by the Dytallix Mining Company. It is in the nearby Mira system.
PICARD: Mister La Forge, chart a course for it immediately. Warp seven. And there will be no records or logs mentioning any aspect of this diversion.

Seems the Federation does contract jobs out to private companies.