tschmidt
Premium,MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
 ·Hollis Hosting
 ·Verizon Online DSL
·Fairpoint Communic..
| Re: I hope they don't mess this up said by anticapitalism :
If the government doesn't step in, who will? We need to have more government involvement with issues that involve the people. said by TKJunkMail  : Almost always the gov't being involved is a very bad thing. We need to step back and evaluate which activities are best left to private enterprise and which are best performed by government as a public good. One only has to look at country’s where government had broken down to see the negative impact on citizenry and private enterprise.
To cite a few examples.
The Interstate highway system created a much-improved surface transportation infrastructure. Private companies are able to exploit that infrastructure to deliver a variety of services that would not be possible if it did not exist.
The Internet is another excellent example of government developing a new technology, which was initially dismissed by private enterprise. Once the technology is sufficiently developed entrepreneurs figured out creative ways to exploit it. Such as this site and the interesting discussion we are having.
Air Transport is another example of private/public partnership. Government provides airports and air control system as a public infrastructure allowing private airlines to deliver services to customers.
Lastly much in the way of medical discoveries are initiated by the public sector. It is true private enterprise spends huge sums of research money but that is mainly product development not pure scientific research.
We need to examine the Internet in the same light. Are there areas where competition does not exist or where a few dominant players’ wield stranglehold on how network is utilized? In that case it is appropriate for government to set in and set standards designed to maximize public good.
In other areas where strong competition exists and barriers to entry are low government should stay out, other then regulations pertaining to good business practices, such as accounting and fairness in advertising.
Many of us have either demonized or sainted government and private enterprise, depending on political outlook. One needs to realize they are symbiotic and need each other to flourish. The difficulty is determining where to locate that boundary.
/tom |
·