Haven't any of you realized who the big investors (in both companies) are?
The biggest owners of VZ/T debt (therefore, the ones that REALLY call the shots) are *institutional investors* (by and large, union and other pension plans, such as CalPERS). Those same pension plans need higher rates of return (due to increasing numbers of retirees) and they need them yesterday. It is precisely this sort of investor that is coining terms like *jobless recovery* and *squeezing blood from a stone*. Chances of anything realistically being done about it - none.