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 LegoPower77AbecedarianPremium
join:2002-08-03
Midlothian, VA | Government panacea It always amazes me when the blogger talks about lack of competition. Monopoly/duopoly problems are caused by government regulations.
I'm not saying there shouldn't be rules of the road, but anything much beyond the enforcement of contracts is too far for the government and leads to the problem of the crony-capitalistic system we now have.
The other thing, from an economic standpoint, is that when we treat broadband as a public utility, while having some benefits, the costs are not talked about.
Those costs are higher prices through less efficient means of production (e.g., rates-of-return pricing causes the firm to hold on to older out-dated equipment longer), and less innovation (because profits are guaranteed through a regulatory board so why try to build a better mousetrap?).
Tell me what I'm missing. | |
| said by LegoPower77:It always amazes me when the blogger talks about lack of competition. Monopoly/duopoly problems are caused by government regulations. I'm not saying there shouldn't be rules of the road, but anything much beyond the enforcement of contracts is too far for the government and leads to the problem of the crony-capitalistic system we now have. The other thing, from an economic standpoint, is that when we treat broadband as a public utility, while having some benefits, the costs are not talked about. Those costs are higher prices through less efficient means of production (e.g., rates-of-return pricing causes the firm to hold on to older out-dated equipment longer), and less innovation (because profits are guaranteed through a regulatory board so why try to build a better mousetrap?). Tell me what I'm missing. Everything you said was either a lie, totally contradictory, or completely illogical. That's what you're missing. | |
| reply to LegoPower77
Uh, you are missing everything.
1) If we didn't have things like antitrust laws, we'd only have a monopoly in telecommunications, because the economies of scale would tilt it that way.
2) Broadband isn't treated like a public utility at all in this country. No ISP is a rate of return or price cap regulated provider. Internet service is not a rate regulated service, even when offered by the few rate-of-return carriers left (rural ILECs, who are RoR on historical network costs, but only POTS rates are regulated; most telephone providers are incentive-regulate ("price-cap") on their phone services, due to the issue you hint at here).
So yeah, you really should learn a little bit about how the markets here in the U.S. actually intersect with regulation. | |
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