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stevent$
Since 1965
Premium
join:2000-08-31
Mohrsville, PA
| Re: Sounds great! Yeah, it sounds OK.....until you have to live it. In Kutztown, PA, that's the way things are run and many of the residents don't like it because of the monopoly. The town has squashed all competition.
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darn that stevent! | |
|  2farfromCO7
join:2000-10-14
Farmington, MI
| Re: Sounds great! So, it was already a monopoly. At least this monopoly will be held accountable for their actions. What accountability does your privitized cable monopoly have??? None. If your socialized cable monopoly screws up, they get voted out of office and are unemployed. That's accountability and responsibility. EVERY TRUE REPUBLICAN SHOULD BE IN FAVOR OF SOCIALIZING ALL MONOPOLIES BECAUSE THAT WOULD ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY. I'm sick of people just blindly bashing all government run businesses without examining it intellectually. It's very easy to just dismiss it as being commie. | |
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Eatmeingreek
Gentard
join:2001-06-29
San Francisco, CA
| Re: Sounds great! said by 2farfromCO:
I'm sick of people just blindly bashing all government run businesses without examining it intellectually.
All government run businesses suck - hard. Amtrak anyone? Or maybe the US Post Office.
Having said that, the only thing worse than a public monopoly is a private one.
Capitalism is such that a for profit company will always screw their customers if they have a monopoly. This is necessarily true. It costs less to give you less service.
If you can't get service from someone else, and you can't live without this service, they can charge you whatever they want, and you will pay it. No matter how shoddy the service. Because it's better than the alternative - no service. That's why phone and power companies have to be regulated.
Most other things you can't live without are publicly owned monopolies, like the water service, and rightly so. I believe all infrastructure whose nature is such that it makes competition infeasible should be publicly owned.
I'm all for my city/county owning and maintaining the communications media to my house. But I also want to be able to pick between several providers of content over that medium, be it TV, voice, and/or Internet access. Ideally I'd like to be able to pick and choose so I could get my phone service from one company, and Internet access from another, for example.
Not that it'll ever happen. Local politicians are usually too corrupt, and the large communications companies have too much money to grease their palms. But I can dream.
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Honey, the fairies are going to drive me to drink - My brother. | |
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natter
join:2000-12-18
Littleton, CO
| Re: Sounds great! "If you can't get service from someone else, and you can't live without this service, they can charge you whatever they want, and you will pay it. No matter how shoddy the service. Because it's better than the alternative - no service. That's why phone and power companies have to be regulated."
So true. I used to have dsl and then I bought a house. No dsl or cable here. I got this wireless connection that is great when it's great (60% of the time).
I could never go back to dialup. I would rather just read a book at night. haha | |
| | | 2farfromCO7
join:2000-10-14
Farmington, MI
| Well fine then have the goverment own the infrastructure. That's fine too. However, you do realize that isn't the viewpoint shared by any REPUBLICAN. REPUBLICANS LIKE THE MONOPOLY STATUS QUO. How can you say that government run companies suck hard when you've never seen it. Didn't you read the initial posts $38 digital cable adn $30 cable modems??? Does that suck???? I'd throw the largest celebration in the history of humanity if my city got that. Please, don't just give me the same copout commie bashie rhetoric give me evidence. I WANT 1 EXAMPLE OF ONE FORM OF GOVERNMENT RUN TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD THAT HAS EVER FAILED!!!!! SOMEBODY GIVE ME 1 EXAMPLE OR I DECLARE MYSELF THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS GENIUS OF THE UNIVERSE. | |
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Eatmeingreek
Gentard
join:2001-06-29
San Francisco, CA
| OK, I give you the phone system in Argentina before it was privatized. It would take years and cost thousands of dollars to get a POTS line. No, not in the distant past, it happened as recently as the late '80s.
Uruguay's phone system was similarly screwed up, but it improved markedly after the return of Democracy in 1985. They've had to improve because private cell phone companies are eating them alive. However, I'm sure it's still vastly more expensive and takes longer to get than phone service here in the U.S. I'll check with my relatives and get back to you.
Satisfied? Now please stop shouting.
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Honey, the fairies are going to drive me to drink - My brother. | |
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Dirk Daring
join:2000-08-03
Ashburn, VA
| You know... I was going to flame your 'republican this, republican that' bull*hit viewpoint... but I don't think I will now. It's far more entertaining to watch you make yourself look like an idiot when its clear you don't know a thing about politics.
Keep up the 'anti-republican' posts. I for one, am enjoying the laugh!
Dirk
[text was edited by author 2002-02-08 08:26:23] | |
| | | | Beeper
Part Of The Problem
join:2001-09-27
Dayton, OH
clubs:
| Ask the Brits how much they like BT.
A govt run telecom can't fail. If the government doesn't like how things are going, well, they have all the guns + a printing press to raise cash, just like in Argentina.
If a govt telecom did fail, it probably is because they were occupied and conquered.
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Guaranteed Fear and Loathing. Abandon all hope. Prepare for the Weirdness. Get familiar with Cannibalism. | |
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Re: Sounds great!
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